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Pain sensitivity in young adults with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a quantitative sensory testing study.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:To study for the first-time, pain perception, pain sensitivity, and self-reported pain in young adults with long disease duration of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) compared with controls. METHODS:Children from Central Norway diagnosed with JIA between 1997 and 2004 were included consecutively in a population-based prospective study. Children with onset 1997-2000 were part of the Nordic JIA cohort. Controls were age- and sex-matched. In 2015-2017, study visits with investigator-blinded quantitative sensory testing (QST) comprising cold and warm detection thresholds (CDT/WDT), cold and heat pain thresholds (CPT/HPT), pressure pain threshold (PPT), and a suprathreshold heat pain test were performed. We constructed separate multilevel models for each variable of detection and pain thresholds with interaction between groups and site adjusted for the effect of age and sex. RESULTS:Among 96 young adults with JIA, 71% were female, median age was 22.7?years, disease duration was 16.1?years, and 47% had oligoarticular disease. Among 109 controls, 71% were female, and median age was 23.5?years. Participants with JIA had lower pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) (95% CI) compared to controls, upper limb 888 (846,930) versus 1029 (999,1059) kPa and lower limb 702 (670,734) versus 760 (726,794) kPa. Participants with inactive disease had the lowest PPTs and cold pain thresholds (CPTs), compared to those in remission off medication and those with active disease. Minor differences were found regarding CDT/WDT and CPT/HPT in JIA compared to controls. The median (IQR) temperature needed to evoke pain = 6 on a 0-10 numeric rating scale (NRS) in the suprathreshold heat pain tests were lower in JIA than in controls (46?°C (45-47?°C) versus 47?°C (46-48?°C)). We found no associations between self-reported pain and pain thresholds. CONCLUSIONS:Our results indicate for the first time that young adults with long disease duration of JIA may have altered pain perception and sensitivity compared to controls. A clinical implication may be the importance of early treatment to quickly achieve pain-free remission and avoid long-term pain sensitization.

SUBMITTER: Arnstad ED

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7643261 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Pain sensitivity in young adults with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a quantitative sensory testing study.

Arnstad Ellen Dalen ED Iversen Johanne Marie JM Uglem Martin M Glerup Mia M Romundstad Pål Richard PR Sand Trond T Rygg Marite M

Arthritis research & therapy 20201105 1

<h4>Background</h4>To study for the first-time, pain perception, pain sensitivity, and self-reported pain in young adults with long disease duration of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) compared with controls.<h4>Methods</h4>Children from Central Norway diagnosed with JIA between 1997 and 2004 were included consecutively in a population-based prospective study. Children with onset 1997-2000 were part of the Nordic JIA cohort. Controls were age- and sex-matched. In 2015-2017, study visits with ...[more]

PMID: 33153493

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Project description:BackgroundJuvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) is the most common cause of non-infectious joint inflammation in children. Synovial inflammation results in pain, swelling and stiffness. Animal and adult human studies indicate that localized joint-associated inflammation may produce generalized changes in pain sensitivity. The aim was to characterize pain sensitivity in children with JIA to mechanical and thermal stimulus modalities using quantitative sensory testing (QST) at an affected inflamed joint, and compare to children in clinical remission. Generalized hypersensitivity was evaluated by comparing QST measures at the thenar eminence between JIA and healthy control children.Methods60 children aged 7-17 years with JIA participated. QST assessed sensory detection threshold and pain threshold at two sites: (1) affected joint (clinically active or inactive), (2) contralateral thenar eminence. Joint site included finger, wrist, knee and ankle. Clinical status was measured using objective and subjective markers of disease severity. Questionnaires assessed pain intensity and frequency, functional disability, anxiety, pain catastrophization and fatigue. QST data collected from joints were compared within JIA patients: active vs. inactive inflammation; and data from the contralateral thenar eminence were compared between JIA and healthy control cohorts in Europe [EU, (n?=?151)] and the US (n?=?92). Statistical analyses were performed using Kruskal-Wallis with Dunn's post-hoc comparison, Mann-Whitney or Fisher's exact test, where appropriate.ResultsOverall, children with JIA reported low pain scores and low degrees of functional disability. Sensory detection thresholds and pain thresholds were similar in "active" compared to "inactive" joints. Despite this, children with JIA had generalized hypersensitivity at the thenar eminence when compared to healthy children for pressure (vs. EU p?<?0.001), light touch (vs. EU p?<?0.001), cold (vs EU, p?<?0.01; vs US, p?<?0.001) and heat pain (vs EU, p?<?0.05; vs US p?<?0.001).ConclusionsJIA is associated with increased sensitivity to painful mechanical and thermal stimuli, even in absence of pain reports, or markers of disease activity. Future research investigating mechanisms underlying pain hypersensitivity in JIA is warranted; this will in turn guide pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions to prevent or reverse these processes.

Project description:BackgroundWhile pain is a common symptom in JIA patients, it remains unclear why some JIA patients develop ongoing or persistent pain. Complex clinical and social settings confound analysis of individual factors that may contribute to this pain. To address this, we first undertook a retrospective analysis of pain reports in a JIA patient cohort with the aim of identifying potential factors contributing to persistent pain. We then carried out an experimental laboratory study, using joint inflammatory pain behaviour in rodents, to validate the role of these factors in the onset of persistent pain under controlled conditions.MethodsPatients: Retrospective analysis of anonymised pain visual analogue scale (VAS) scores and accompanying clinical scores from 97 JIA patients aged 13-19 (mean: 16.40?±?1.21) collected over 50?weeks. Rats: Experimental study of pain behaviour following intra-articular microinjection of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) in adolescents (n?=?25) and young adults (n?=?43). Some animals (n?=?21) had been previously exposed to joint inflammation in infancy or adolescence.ResultsPatients: Cluster analysis of patient pain VAS scores revealed three trajectories over 50?weeks: consistently low pain (n?=?45), variable pain (n?=?30) and persistently high pain (n?=?22). Number of actively inflamed joints did not differ in the three groups. High pain at a single visit correlated with greater physician global assessment of disease activity, while a high pain trajectory over 50?weeks was associated with more limited joints but fewer actively inflamed joints. Rats: Rodents administered ankle joint CFA also exhibit low, medium and high joint pain sensitivities, independent of joint inflammation. Prolonged inflammatory pain behaviour was associated with high background pain sensitivity, following joint inflammation at an earlier stage in life.ConclusionsBoth JIA patients and rodents differ in their individual pain sensitivity independent of the concurrent joint inflammation. Using experimental animal models allows us to isolate physiological factors underlying these differences, independently of social or clinical factors. The results suggest that a history of prior arthritic activity/joint inflammation may contribute to high pain sensitivity in adolescents with JIA.

Dataset Information

Pain sensitivity in young adults with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a quantitative sensory testing study.

Publications

Pain sensitivity in young adults with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a quantitative sensory testing study.

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