Living with chronic pain is associated with many deleterious outcomes, including a substantially increased risk of suicide. While many general risk factors for suicidal ideation and behavior have been identified, few studies have examined pain-related factors that confer increased or decreased risk for suicidality. The present study assessed individual differences in the use of pain-related coping strategies and pain-related catastrophizing as correlates of suicidal ideation in patients with chronic pain. A total of 1512 patients seeking treatment for chronic pain completed a variety of questionnaires assessing pain, coping, and psychosocial functioning. On written questionnaires, approximately 32% of this clinic sample reported some form of recent suicidal ideation. The two most consistent predictors of the presence and degree of suicidal ideation were the magnitude of depressive symptoms and the degree of pain-related catastrophizing, a maladaptive cognitive/emotional pain-coping strategy. Demographic and other pain-related variables such as pain severity and duration were not generally robust predictors of suicidal ideation in this sample of patients with chronic pain. These are the first findings to suggest a unique (e.g., independent of pain severity or depressive symptomatology) association between pain-coping strategies and suicide-related cognitions in the context of chronic pain. Further research in this area, including the addition of suicide prevention materials to pain-coping skills training programs, may benefit large numbers of individuals who are at elevated suicide risk as a consequence of chronic pain.

BackgroundThe prevalence of neuropathic pain (NeP) has been estimated within specific health conditions; however, there are no published data on its broad prevalence in the US. The current exploratory study addresses this gap using the validated PainDetect questionnaire as a screener for probable NeP in a general-population health survey conducted with a multimodal recruitment strategy to maximize demographic representativeness.Materials and methodsAdult respondents were recruited from a combination of Internet panels, telephone lists, address lists, mall-based interviews, and store-receipt invitations using a random stratified-sampling framework, with strata defined by age, sex, and race/ethnicity. Older persons and minorities were oversampled to improve prevalence estimates. Results were weighted to match the total adult US population using US Census data. Demographic information was collected, and respondents who experienced physical pain in the past 12 months completed the PainDetect and provided additional pain history. A cutoff score of 19 or greater on the PainDetect was used to define probable NeP.ResultsA total of 24,925 respondents (average response rate 2.5%) provided demographic data (52.2% female, mean age 51.5 years); 15,751 respondents reported pain (63.7%), of which 2,548 (15.7%, 95% confidence interval 14.9%–16.5%) had probable NeP based on the PainDetect, which was 10% (95% confidence interval 9.5%–10.5%) of all respondents. Among those reporting pain, the prevalence of probable NeP among Blacks and Hispanics was consistently higher than Whites in each age- and sex group. The highest prevalence among those with pain was among male Hispanics 35–44 years (32.4%) and 45–54 years (24.2%) old. The most commonly used medications reported by those with probable NeP were nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (44.2%), followed by weak opioids (31.7%), antiepileptics (10.9%), and strong opioids (10.9%).ConclusionThis is the first study to provide an estimate of the prevalence of probable NeP in the US, showing significant variation by age and ethnicity.

Persistent postmastectomy pain is quite common and has been classified into several distinct types. Few studies, however, have investigated either the predictors or functional impact of multiple types of post mastectomy pain. In this investigation, 278 women, who were, on average, several years post mastectomy, completed questionnaires assessing pain, pain-related physical function, and psychosocial distress. We assessed three distinct categories of postmastectomy pain: phantom breast pain, scar pain, and other mastectomy-related pain. Each of the three types of postmastectomy pain was strongly related to one another (i.e., women reporting one type of pain were more likely to report the other types as well). In general, the more types of postmastectomy pain a woman reported, the greater the degree of disability and distress. Collectively, the presence of "other mastectomy-related pain" was a stronger unique predictor of disability and distress than were the other two categories of pain. Interestingly, demographic and surgical factors, including time since surgery, were not consistent predictors of pain or function. The findings suggest that the assessment of postmastectomy pain should include formal evaluation of multiple types of pain, with additional attention paid to the category of "other mastectomy-related pains," and that the number of types of pain reported by women after surgery may be important in predicting functional outcomes.