Swedish Chronic Pain Biobank: protocol for a multicentre registry and biomarker project.

INTRODUCTION: About 20% of the adult population have chronic pain, often associated with psychological distress, sick leave and poor health. There are large variations in the clinical picture. A biopsychosocial approach is used in investigation and treatment. The concept of personalised medicine, that is, optimising medication types and dosages for individual patients based on biomarkers and other patient-related factors, has received increasing attention in different diseases but used less in chronic pain. This cooperative project from all Swedish University Hospitals will investigate whether there are changes in inflammation and metabolism patterns in saliva and blood in chronic pain patients and whether the changes correlate with clinical characteristics and rehabilitation outcomes. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Patients at multidisciplinary pain centres at University Hospitals in Sweden who have chosen to participate in the Swedish Quality Registry for Pain Rehabilitation and healthy sex-matched and age-matched individuals will be included in the study. Saliva and blood samples will be collected in addition to questionnaire data obtained from the register. From the samples, proteins, lipids, metabolites and micro-RNA will be analysed in relation to, for example, diagnosis, pain characteristics, psychological distress, body weight, pharmacological treatment and clinical rehabilitation results using advanced multivariate data analysis and bioinformatics. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study is approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (Dnr 2021-04929) and will be conducted in accordance with the declaration of Helsinki.The results will be published in open access scientific journals and in popular scientific relevant journals such as those from patient organisations. Data will be also presented in scientific meetings, meeting with healthcare organisations and disseminated in different lecturers at the clinics and universities.

Short-term balance training and acute effects on postural sway in balance-deficient older adults: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to determine the effectiveness of 4 weeks of balance exercise compared with no intervention on objectively measured postural sway. METHODS: This was a single-center parallel randomized controlled, open label, trial. A six-sided dice was used for allocation at a 1:1-ratio between exercise and control. The trial was performed at a university hospital clinic in Sweden and recruited community-dwelling older adults with documented postural instability. The intervention consisted of progressively challenging balance exercise three times per week, during 4 weeks, with follow-up at week five. Main outcome measures were objective postural sway length during eyes open and eyes closed conditions. RESULTS: Sixty-five participants aged 70 years (balance exercise n = 32; no intervention n = 33) were randomized. 14 participants were excluded from analysis because of early dropout before follow-up at week five, leaving 51 (n = 22; n = 29) participants for analysis. No significant differences were detected between the groups in any of the postural sway outcomes. Within-group analyses showed significant improvements in hand grip strength for the intervention group, while Timed Up & Go improvements were comparable between groups but only statistically significant in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Performing balance exercise over a four-week intervention period did not acutely improve postural sway in balance-deficient older adults. The lower limit in duration and frequency to achieve positive effects remains unclear. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical trials NCT03227666 , July 24, 2017, retrospectively registered.

Effects of interval training on quality of life and cardiometabolic risk markers in older adults: a randomized controlled trial.

PURPOSE: To explore the effects of 10 weeks of progressive vigorous interval training as a single intervention on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and cardiometabolic risk markers in centrally obese 70-year-old individuals. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: A randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov registration no. NCT03450655) including seventy-seven community-dwelling 70-year-old men and women with central obesity defined as > 1 kg visceral adipose tissue for women and > 2 kg for men. Participants randomized to the intervention group were offered a 10-week progressive vigorous interval training program performed three times per week. Control subjects were asked to maintain their daily living and routines throughout the trial. All participants in both groups had received tailored lifestyle recommendations focused on diet and physical activity at one occasion within 12 months prior to trial initiation. Prespecified outcome measures included: changes in HRQoL using the Short Form Health Survey Questionnaire (SF-36), blood pressure; resting heart rate (HR) and blood lipids. All analyses were conducted on an intention-to-treat basis. RESULTS: The intervention resulted in significant effects on the SF-36 mental component summary (MCS) score and the mental health (MH) subscale (P< 0.05 for both), when compared to the control group. Specifically, the intervention group increased their MCS score by 6.3 points (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.3-12.3) and their MH score by 6.0 points (95% CI = 1.7-10.4) compared to the control group. Moreover, significant effects were seen on resting HR, total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol (P<0.05 for all). CONCLUSION: It was shown that 10 weeks of vigorous interval training as a single intervention was sufficient to improve mental aspects of HRQoL in older individuals with central obesity, which is a critical aspect of healthy ageing. Positive effects were seen also on cardiometabolic risk markers.

Effects of Interval Training on Visceral Adipose Tissue in Centrally Obese 70-Year-Old Individuals: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of 10 weeks of progressive vigorous-intensity interval training as a single intervention on body composition among 70-year-old individuals with central obesity. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov registration No. NCT03450655). SETTING: Community-dwelling 70-year-old men and women living in the Umeå municipality in Sweden. PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-seven 70-year-old men and women with central obesity (greater than 1 kg visceral adipose tissue [VAT] for women and greater than 2 kg VAT for men). INTERVENTION: Participants allocated to the intervention group were offered a 10-week progressive concurrent exercise program performed three times per week. All participants in both groups had received tailored lifestyle recommendations focused on diet and physical activity at one occasion within 12 months prior to trial initiation. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome was changes in VAT, and secondary outcomes included changes in total fat mass (FM), total lean body mass (LBM), and body mass index. RESULTS: Comparing the groups, there were no significant differences in decrease of VAT mass (P = .10), although the intervention group significantly decreased FM by 716 g (P = .01) and gained LBM by 508 g (P = .03), compared to the control group. Furthermore, the effects of the training were significantly greater in the male subcohort (P < .05 for interaction), with positive effects also on VAT and FM, where men in the intervention group decreased VAT by 175 g (P < .05) and FM by 1364 g (P = .004), compared to the male controls. CONCLUSIONS: The present trial demonstrates that 10 weeks of progressive vigorous interval training is sufficient to significantly decrease FM in older adults with central obesity, with positive effects also on LBM. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:1625-1631, 2019.

Effects of Resistance Training on Functional Strength and Muscle Mass in 70-Year-Old Individuals With Pre-sarcopenia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVE: Sarcopenia has been defined as age-related loss of muscle mass and function. The aim of this randomized controlled trial was to examine the effects of a 10-week instructor-led resistance training program on functional strength and body composition in men and women aged 70 years with pre-sarcopenia. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Participants were randomized to either 10 weeks of a physical training regimen including optional nutritional supplementation (n = 36) or to a control group (n = 34) (ClinicalTrials.gov, no. NCT03297632). The main outcome was changes in the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) score. Secondary outcomes included the Timed Up and Go test, chair sit-stand time, lean body mass, and fat mass. RESULTS: The intervention had no significant effect on SPPB in the total cohort (P = .18), when comparing changes in the intervention group with the control group. However, those given the intervention in the male subcohort increased 0.5 ± 0.4 (mean ± standard error for the difference) points in SPPB during follow-up (P = .02) compared to male controls. With respect to secondary outcomes, the intervention group decreased 0.9 ± 0.6 seconds in chair sit-stand time compared to controls (P = .01). Furthermore, the intervention resulted in significantly greater improvements for the training group than control group in all measures of body composition (P ≤ .01 for all). For example, lean body mass increased by a mean of 1147 ± 282 g (P < .001), and total fat mass decreased by a mean of 553 ± 225 g (P = .003), favoring the intervention group. CONCLUSION/IMPLICATIONS: The main finding of this intervention study is that an easy-to-use, functional resistance training program was effective in maintaining functional strength and increasing muscle mass in older adults with pre-sarcopenia.