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Papers of the Week


2022 Jun 03


BMJ Open


12


6

Study protocol: an observational study of distress, immune function and persistent pain in HIV.

Authors

Madden VJ, Msolo N, Mqadi L, Lesosky M, Bedwell GJ, Hutchinson MR, Peter J G, Parker R, Schrepf A, Edwards RR, Joska JA
BMJ Open. 2022 Jun 03; 12(6):e059723.
PMID: 36691234.

Abstract

Many people with HIV report both distress and pain. The relationship between distress and pain is bidirectional, but the mechanisms by which distress exacerbates pain are unclear. The inflammatory response to challenge (inflammatory reactivity, IR) may be a partial mediator, given that neuroimmune interactions provide a substrate for IR to also influence neurological reactivity and, thus, pain-related neural signalling. This prospective, observational, case-control study will characterise the relationships between distress, IR, pain-related signalling as captured by induced secondary hyperalgesia (SH), and pain, in people with HIV who report persistent pain (PP) (cases) or no pain (controls).