Determinants of frailty development and progression using a multidimensional frailty index: Evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

This work was supported by grant number 689592 "my-AHA" from the Horizon 2020 research funding framework of the European Commission (https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en).Open Access articl

Interventions for attentional disruption in pain: cognition-general, mechanism-specific or exercise-based?

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link

Deutsche transkulturelle Übersetzung des Injustice Experience Questionnaire (IEQ)

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Introduction: Occupational and social rehabilitation is influenced by perceived injustice as a result of injury. To assess perceived injustice, the Injustice Experience Questionnaire (IEQ) has been developed and is available in English. The aim of this study was to translate and culturally adapt the English version of the IEQ into German. Methodology: The IEQ was translated and adapted into German according to the criteria for transcultural adaptation of self-assessment tools. The translation was examined in a sample of 19 pain patients for its comprehensibility and item meanings, as well as offensiveness. Data were assessed using nonparametric statistical methods. Results: The German translation of the IEQ showed a high degree of comprehensibility. The items’ meanings and participants’ selected answer options were rated as highly plausible by two raters. Item wordings were rated neither as offensive nor unacceptable by participants. The German translation of the english term “negligence” in item 3 by the term “Unachtsamkeit” was assessed as misunderstandable, therefore it was replaced by the term “Unaufmerksamkeit". Conclusion: The study attests the cultural and linguistic intelligibility and precision of the German translation of the IEQ. In a follow-up study, the translation should be validated in a larger sample of pain patients

Prenatal stress exposure is associated with increased dyspnea perception in adulthood

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Dyspnoea is the aversive cardinal symptom in various prevalent conditions such as respiratory, cardiovascular and neuromuscular diseases and is associated with great individual and socioeconomic burden [1]. Over the past years, several physiological and also psychological factors have been demonstrated to affect the perception of dyspnoea [1, 2]. For example, high levels of anxiety in adulthood were associated with increased dyspnoea perception in patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but also in healthy controls [2]. Moreover, adverse, separation-related experiences in childhood were linked to the subsequent development of increased anxiety and dyspnoea [3]. However, the effects of adverse experiences in early, prenatal life on dyspnoea perception remain widely unknown, although prenatal exposure to maternal stress and anxiety has convincingly been related to the development of other health and behavioural problems later in life, including impairments of the respiratory control system and high anxiety levels [4–9]. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between prenatal exposure to maternal stress and the perception of dyspnoea in adulthood 28 years later

Pain Catastrophizing and Fear of Pain predict the Experience of Pain in Body Parts not targeted by a Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness procedure

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.The present study examined whether pain catastrophizing and pain-related fear predict the experience of pain in body regions that are not targeted by an experimental muscle injury protocol. A delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) protocol was used to induce pain unilaterally in the pectoralis, serratus, trapezius, latissimus dorsi, and deltoid muscles. The day after the DOMS protocol, participants were asked to rate their pain as they lifted weighted canisters with their targeted (ie, injured) arm and their nontargeted arm. The lifting task is a nonnoxious stimulus unless participants are already experiencing musculoskeletal pain. Therefore, reports of pain on the nontargeted arm were operationalized as pain in response to a nonnoxious stimulus. Eighty-two healthy university students (54 men, 28 women) completed questionnaires on pain catastrophizing and fear of pain and went through the DOMS protocol. The analyses revealed that catastrophizing and pain-related fear prospectively predicted pain experience in response to a nonnoxious stimulus. The possible mechanisms underlying this effect and clinical implications are discussed

An Experimental Approach to Examining Psychological Contributions to Multisite Musculoskeletal Pain.

The present study examined the prospective value of pain catastrophizing, fear of pain, and depression in the prediction of multisite musculoskeletal pain following experimentally induced delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS). The study sample consisted of 119 (63 females, 56 males) healthy university students. Measures of pain catastrophizing, fear of pain, and depression were completed prior to the DOMS induction procedure. Analyses revealed that pain catastrophizing and fear of pain prospectively predicted the experience of multisite pain following DOMS induction. Analyses also revealed that women were more likely to experience multisite pain than men. There was no significant relation between depressive symptoms and the experience of multisite pain. The discussion addresses the mechanisms by which pain catastrophizing and fear of pain might contribute to the spreading of pain. Clinical implications of the findings are also addressed. Perspective: The results of this experimental study suggest that pain catastrophizing and fear of pain might increase the risk of developing multisite pain following musculoskeletal injury

On the influence of pain catastrophizing and pain-related fear on the spreading of pain

Psychological factors such as pain catastrophizing and pain-related fear have been discussed as possible risk factors implemented in the development and exacerbation of disorders including pain in multiple body sites. Pain catastrophizing has been associated with central sensitization, and dysfunction of descending noxious inhibitory control, both of which have also been discussed as processes underlying the pathogenesis of multisite pain. The ‘generalization’ of fear and pain has been suggested as a mechanism by which pain-related fear might contribute to the spreading of pain. Study 1 revealed that pain catastrophizing and pain-related fear predict the number of pain sites reported following experimentally-induced delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). In study 2 we showed that the experience of pain in response to a non-noxious stimulus is predicted by pain-related fear and catastrophizing only after musculoskeletal injury has been induced in a distal site on the body. The following study (3) examined the susceptibility of pain catastrophizing and pain-related fear to the restriction of cognitive resources in their influence on the pain response to a non-noxious stimulus. The influence of pain catastrophizing on the intensification of pain in response to a non-noxious stimulus could not be replicated under neither low nor high cognitive load, while the influence of pain-related fear was affected only by a high cognitively demanding concurrent task. Furthermore, study 3 revealed that changes in the intensity of the pain response to a non-noxious stimulus were partially mediated by changes in state fear of movement-related pain. In the last study (4) we used a proprioceptive fear conditioning paradigm to examine the influence of pain catastrophizing, pain-related fear, and executive function capacity on the generalization and extinction of state fear of movement-related pain. The results showed that low inhibitory capacity, as well as low levels of pain catastrophizing and pain-related fear were associated with slower rates of fear and pain expectancy extinction. Furthermore, pain catastrophizing was associated with the strength of the generalization of state fear of movement-related pain. The series of studies presented in this dissertation suggest that pain catastrophizing and pain- related fear prospectively predict the anatomical spreading of pain and the intensification of the pain response to a non-noxious stimulus. Furthermore, the augmenting influence of pain-related fear can be attenuated by restricting the amount of cognitive resources available. The results indicate that the generalization of fear is a potential vehicle through which pain catastrophizing and pain-related fear influence the pain response to a non-noxious stimulus.status: publishe

An Experimental Investigation of the Influence of Pain Catastrophizing and Pain-Related Fear on the Generalization of Pain

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An experimental Investigation of controlled versus automatic processes in pain expression during acute pain Experience

status: publishe