Aims
Symptoms of central sensitization syndrome (CSS) were evaluated among three different groups of temporomandibular disorder (TMD) patients. Additionally, TMD group differences in pain and pain-related disability were assessed, as well as emotional distress.
Methods
Participants were 250 patients with symptoms of acute TMD, recruited from dental clinics within a major metropolitan area. Sequential regressions and multivariate analyses of covariance were conducted in order to make group comparisons.
Results
Those with a TMD Muscle Disorder [i.e., myofacial TMD (m-TMD)] and those with more than one TMD diagnosis, had the most symptoms of CSS and higher reports of pain and pain-related disability. Moreover, emotional distress accounted for a substantial amount of the variance for physical symptoms and mediated all TMD comparisons.
Conclusions
Myofacial TMD is characterized by a high degree of comorbidity of symptoms of CSS and associated emotional distress.
The present study represents the next stage in the development of a psychometrically sound, self-report screening tool used for assessing the potential pain-medication-misuse risk. A revised Pain Medication Questionnaire (PMQ) was initially designed to successfully evaluate such risk. A subsequent series of two additional studies further documented the clinical utility of the PMQ. A new shortened version of the PMQ was developed, and its psychometric properties, along with its predictive accuracy in identifying risk for medication misuse, were evaluated. Results revealed that the new version maintained the strong psychometric properties of the original PMQ. Moreover, its predictive accuracy was found to be high (85.5% accuracy). Thus, this revised, shortened PMQ can aid physicians in assessing for potential medication misuse, allowing them to more closely monitor at-risk patients during pain management treatment.
The addition of a work transition component to an early intervention program for the treatment of ALBP did not significantly contribute to improved work outcomes. However, results further support the effectiveness of early intervention for high-risk ALBP patients.
Temporomandibular joint and muscle disorder (TMJMD) prevalence studies have predominantly evaluated the U.S. general population, for which Caucasians make up the majority of the subjects. With the growing levels of minority populations in the United States, it is important to estimate the prevalence of TMJMD in African Americans, relative to the U.S. general population. Therefore, we administered a survey regarding acute jaw pain symptoms to a sample of 274 participants. The results revealed a TMJMD prevalence of 22.3% for all participants, 25.3% for women, 16% for men (X2(1, n = 158) = 7.097, p = .008). TMJMD prevalence in African Americans was 22%, while that for Caucasians was 22.5% (X2(1, n = 118) = .039, p = .843). Most importantly, there were differences in the distribution of the 21 TMJMD symptoms of our survey between African Americans and Caucasians. Thus, even though TMJMD prevalence rates between African Americans and Caucasians were different but not significant, there were significant differences in some of the 21 TMJMD symptoms, suggesting that researchers and clinicians may want to consider evaluating these racial group differences in developing the most effective treatment plans for them.
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