The 'significance' of statistical significance.
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Humans↗
Biomedical subjects
Franklin Perry
Publications and source records attributed to Franklin Perry.
A possible indicator of functional pain: poor pain scale correlation.
We studied correlations of pain measures in patients with either inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a disease with a clear organic cause, or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a functional pain syndrome in which there is little demonstrable pathology. Correlations were determined between measures on the visual analogue scale (VAS) and on the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ). The VAS score and present pain intensity scale (PPI) of the MPQ correlated well in the organic IBD but correlated poorly in the functional IBS. Differences in correlation between the VAS and PPI scores in functional versus organic disease did not appear to be due to altered sensory and affective pain components. This finding is similar to what we observed in our previous study of organic and functional pain syndromes in the musculoskeletal system. Correlations between the other measures are also discussed.
Chronic Disease↗
Altered autonomic function in patients with arthritis or with chronic myofascial pain.
Dynamic autonomic function tests (pupillary light reflex, Valsalva maneuver, and mental arithmetic) were used to evaluate autonomic function (pupil size, heart rate, and skin conductance) in patients with inflammatory arthritis or with chronic myofascial pain. Physiological responses in both groups of patients suggest concurrent increases in tonic pupillary autonomic activity (sympathetic and parasympathetic), with a relative sympathetic dominance, and a decrease in tonic parasympathetic cardiovascular activity. Furthermore, in the arthritis group, the data suggest decreased cardiovascular parasympathetic reaction and enhanced sudomotor reaction.
Arthritis↗
Differing correlations between pain measures in syndromes with or without explicable organic pathology.
We investigated the use of pain measures in chronic pain syndromes with and without explicable organic cause by correlating scores obtained from the Visual Analog Scale and from subscales of the McGill Pain Questionnaire in patients with either inflammatory arthritis or primary fibrositis. We confirmed the finding that patients with fibrositis, despite having significantly less demonstrable pathology, report more pain on a significant number of measures. In patients with arthritis, we observed large positive correlations between scores on different pain measures, supporting the hypothesis that these scores validly measure pain secondary to tissue injury. In the fibrositis group, however, significantly lower correlations, and one even strongly negative, were found between scores on different measures. We suggest that commonly used pain measures which have been shown to be valid to study patients with demonstrable pathology may be less valid for measurement of pain in patients with syndrome such as fibrositis, whose pain may be different or more complex than that of patients with explicable organic basis.
Adult↗
Cardiovascular autonomic response during preoperative stress and postoperative pain.
Heart rate response to physiologic maneuvers was used to evaluate autonomic nervous system (ANS) function in normal control subjects and during the stress and pain experienced by patients before and after surgery. In preoperative patients (stressed without pain) and postoperative patients (stressed with pain), maneuvers which routinely increase activity in the parasympathetic or sympathetic divisions of the ANS produced only 50% of the response seen in control subjects. The heart rate response was not further reduced in patients with pain compared to patients with stress alone. The difference in heart rate response between surgical patients and control subjects was not accompanied by a difference in baseline heart rate. The data suggest that tonic stress impairs the ability of the ANS to respond fully to perturbing influences.
Adolescent↗
Altered electrodermal responsivity associated with clinical pain.
We used certain physiologic maneuvers to perturb the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in an attempt to detect a link between the ANS and pain. In the unperturbed state, we found no difference in the electrodermal response among normal controls, preoperative patients (increased stress without pain) and postoperative patients (increased stress and pain). The electrodermal response elicited by autonomic maneuvers was significantly attenuated in postoperative patients but not in preoperative patients or in normal control subjects.
Adolescent↗