Understanding and restoring dopaminergic function in fibromyalgia patients using a mindfulness-based psychological intervention: a [18F]-DOPA PET study. Study protocol for the FIBRODOPA study-a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a very prevalent and debilitating chronic pain disorder that is difficult to treat. Mindfulness-based techniques are regarded as a very promising approach for the treatment of chronic pain and in particular FM. The Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) intervention, a mindfulness-based group intervention, has shown beneficial effects in opioid-treated chronic pain patients, including reduced pain severity, functional interference, and opioid dosing, by restoring neurophysiological and behavioral responses to reward. The first evidence for a hypodopaminergic state and impaired reward processing in FM has been reported. However, little is known about its impact on dopamine (DA) function and in particular with regard to DA responses to monetary reward in FM. The aim of the present study protocol is to evaluate if MORE is able to restore the DA function in FM patients, in particular with regard to the DA responses to reward, and to reduce pain and mood complaints in FM. METHODS: The present study is a multi-center interventional RCT with 3 time points: before the intervention, after completion of the intervention, and 3 months after completion of the intervention. Sixty-four FM patients will be randomly assigned to either the MORE intervention (N = 32) or a non-intervention control group (N = 32). Additionally, a comparison group of healthy women (N = 20) for PET measures will be enrolled and another group of healthy women (N = 15) will do the ambulatory assessments only. The MORE intervention consists of eight 2-h-long group sessions administered weekly over a period of 8 weeks. Before and after the intervention, FM participants will undergo [18F] DOPA positron emission tomography (PET) and functional MR imaging while performing a reward task. The primary outcome will be endogeneous DA changes measured with [18F] DOPA PET at baseline, after the intervention (after 8 weeks for the non-intervention control group), and at 3 months' follow-up. Secondary outcomes will be (1) clinical pain measures and FM symptoms using standardized clinical scales; (2) functional brain changes; (3) measures of negative and positive affect, stress, and reward experience in daily life using the ambulatory assessment method (AA); and (4) biological measures of stress including cortisol and alpha-amylase. DISCUSSION: If the findings of this study confirm the effectiveness of MORE in restoring DA function, reducing pain, and improving mood symptoms, MORE can be judged to be a promising means to improve the quality of life in FM patients. The findings of this trial may inform health care providers about the potential use of the MORE intervention as a possible non-pharmacological intervention for FM. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04451564 . Registered on 3 July 2020. The trial was prospectively registered.

Adherence to the distress screening through oncology nurses and integration of screening results into the nursing process to adapt psychosocial nursing care five years after implementation.

PURPOSE: Addressing psychosocial distress is an essential part of cancer care. Therefore, nurses at the University Hospital Zurich have been screening all cancer inpatients with the Distress Thermometer (DT) since 2012. Screening is ineffective without any form of psychosocial intervention. We aimed to identify adherence to the screening protocol and how the reported problems influenced the nursing process. We compared changes in the documentation before and after screening implementation. METHODS: This retrospective descriptive study used screening data and documentation of psychosocial items in the nursing process of inpatients at an oncologic ward. These data were compared with data obtained before screening implementation and were collected from electronic health records. All data were analyzed descriptively. RESULTS: 65% (N = 1111) of the 2166 inpatients were screened. With the implementation, more psycho-oncological referrals were made (4.5% vs. 11.7%) and more psychosocial issues were described in the nursing process (24.6% vs. 51.2%). Inpatients mentioned emotional problems in 37.5% (N = 353) and physical problems in 47.4% (N = 504) of cases. 15.7% (147) had a psychosocial nursing diagnosis. Only 10.7% (N = 26) of patients who noted anxiety, also had a nursing diagnosis of "anxiety". In contrast, 71.1% (N = 202) of patients who noted pain, had a nursing diagnosis of "pain". CONCLUSIONS: Although nurses are more sensitised to psychosocial issues after DT implementation, they do not use screening results to adapt nursing documentation to the psychosocial needs of the patients. Further studies are needed to investigate how distress screening and psychosocial issues can be integrated into nurses' daily work.

Evaluation of the adherence of distress screening with the distress thermometer in cancer patients 4 years after implementation.

PURPOSE: Identifying and assessing psychosocial distress with an appropriate screening instrument is essential when caring for cancer patients. Since 2012, the distress thermometer (DT) has been used by nurses for all cancer inpatients at the Comprehensive Cancer Center Zurich. We wanted to identify nurses' adherence to the screening protocol, differences between screened and not screened patients and the relationship between screening rate and productivity. METHODS: This retrospective descriptive study used screening and referral data as well as socioeconomic and disease-related data of inpatients at the Comprehensive Cancer Center Zurich. This was collected from the electronic patient documentation system. Additionally, data showing the productivity of all wards was used. All data were analyzed descriptive. RESULTS: Since 2012, 40.6% (4541) of the 11,184 patients have been screened. The screening rate was initially significantly lower but settled at 40% after 2 years. There was a higher screening rate among Swiss, married, male, and emergency patients and patients with hematology diseases, brain tumors, or head and neck cancer (p < 0.001). Every fourth patient with a moderate to severe distress level requested referral to a psychosocial service. Significantly more screened patients were referred to the social service (44.7%) than to the psycho-oncology service (9.4%). Only 22.9% of all referrals were made on the day of screening or a day later. There were only two wards of 15 with a significant relationship between productivity and screening rate. CONCLUSIONS: Screening is useful in recognizing distress among patients, but screening practice needs to be reconsidered.

Relation of dopamine receptor 2 binding to pain perception in female fibromyalgia patients with and without depression--A [¹¹C] raclopride PET-study.

Dopamine D2/D3 receptor availability at rest and its association with individual pain perception was investigated using the [(11)C] raclopride PET-method in 24 female Fibromyalgia (FMS) participants with (FMS+, N=11) and without (FMS-, N=13) comorbid depression and in 17 healthy women. Thermal pain thresholds (TPT) and pain responses were assessed outside the scanner. We compared the discriminative capacity, i.e. the individual׳s capacity to discriminate between lower and higher pain intensities and the response criterion, i.e. the subject׳s tendency to report pain during noxious stimulation due to psychological factors. [(11)C] raclopride binding potential (BP), defined as the ratio of specifically bound non-displaceable radioligand at equilibrium (BP(ND)) was used as measure of D2/D3 receptor availability. We found significant group effects of BP(ND) in striatal regions (left ventral striatum, left caudate nucleus and left nucleus accumbens) between FMS+ and FMS- compared to healthy subjects. Correlational analysis showed negative associations between TPT and D2/D3 receptor availability in the left caudate nucleus in FMS-, between TPT and D2/D3 receptor availability in the right caudate nucleus in FMS + and positive associations between TPT and D2/D3 receptor availability in the left putamen and right caudate nucleus in healthy controls. The response criterion was positively associated with D2/D3 receptor availability in the right nucleus accumbens in FMS - and negatively with D2/D3 receptor availability in the left caudate nucleus in healthy controls. Finally, no significant associations between D2/D3 receptor availability and discriminative capacity in any of the groups or regions were determined. These findings provide further support for a disruption of dopaminergic neurotransmission in FMS and implicate DA as important neurochemical moderator of differences in pain perception in FMS patients with and without co-morbid depression.

Resilience in patients and spouses faced with malignant melanoma. A qualitative longitudinal study.

Life-threatening diseases like malignant tumours are associated with considerable existential distress. Little is known about the factors that promote resilience within these individuals. This longitudinal qualitative partner study aimed to analyse resilience as per Antonovsky's sense of coherence. Eight patients with malignant melanoma and their partners were interviewed. They were asked about their coping strategies, attitudes towards the meaning of life and their cancer, and comprehension of what is happening to them. The questions were asked shortly after their diagnosis was made and 6 months later. All interviews were audio-taped and later transcribed and analysed according to the method of qualitative content analysis described by P. Mayring. At baseline, the majority of statements made (261; patients = 141/spouses = 120) related to coping/manageability of disease, with only 26 statements (patients = 15/spouses = 11) related to meaning and 127 (patients = 64/spouses = 63) to comprehension. There were no significant differences between the responses of patients and their partners and no significant changes in the number of statements during the 6-month interview. The most significant theme that emerged was manageability of disease, with distraction the most commonly utilised coping skill. The comprehension and meaning themes were far less prevalent. Hence, support should focus on disease and situational manageability.

Are preoperative sex-related differences of affective symptoms in primary brain tumor patients associated with postoperative histopathological grading?

Our objective was to explore the impact of the histopathological tumor type on affective symptoms before surgery among male and female patients with supratentorial primary brain tumors. A total of 44 adult patients were included in the study. Depression and anxiety were measured using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Additionally, clinical interviews, including the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), were conducted. The general function of patients was measured with the Karnofsky Performance Status scale (KPS). All measures were obtained before surgery and therefore before the final histopathological diagnosis. All self-rating questionnaires but not the HDRS, showed significantly higher scores in female patients. The functional status assessed with the KPS was lower in female patients and correlated to the somatic part of the BDI. We further found a tendency for higher HDRS scores in male patients with a WHO grade 4 tumor stage compared to female patients. This finding was supported by positive correlations between HDRS scores and WHO grade in male and negative correlations between HDRS scores and WHO grade in female patients. In conclusion the preoperative evaluation of affective symptoms with self-rating questionnaires in patients with brain tumors may be invalidated by the patient's functional status. Depression should be explored with clinical interviews in these patients. Sex differences of affective symptoms in this patient group may also be related to the malignancy of the tumor, but further studies are needed to disentangle this relationship.

Fear-learning deficits in subjects with fibromyalgia syndrome?

BACKGROUND: Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is frequently associated with psychiatric conditions, particularly anxiety. Deficits in contingency learning during fear conditioning have been hypothesized to increase anxiety and, consequently, pain sensation in susceptible individuals. The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between contingency learning and pain experience in subjects with FMS and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: Fourteen female FMS subjects, 14 age-matched female RA subjects and 14 age-matched female healthy controls (HCs) were included in a fear-conditioning experiment. The conditioned stimulus (CS) consisted of visual signs, the unconditioned stimulus (US) of thermal stimuli. CS- predicted low-temperature exposure (US), while CS+ was followed by low or high temperature. RESULTS: In the FMS group, only 50% of the subjects were aware of the US-CS contingency, whereas 86% of the RA subjects and all of the HCs were aware of the contingency. CS+ induced more anxiety than CS- in RA subjects and HCs. As expected, low-temperature exposure was experienced as less painful after CS- than after CS+ in these subjects. FMS subjects did not show such adaptive conditioning. The effects of the type of CS on heart rate changes were significant in the HCs and the aware FMS subjects, but not in the unaware FMS subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Contingency learning deficits represent a potentially promising and specific, but largely unstudied, psychopathological factor in FMS. Deficits in contingency learning may increase anxiety and, consequently, pain sensation. These findings have the potential to contribute to the development of novel therapeutic approaches for FMS.

[Psychological distress and quality of life in COPD-patients and their spouses]. / Psychische Belastung und Lebensqualität bei COPD-Patienten und bei deren Partnern.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate psychological distress, quality of life, and satisfaction with medical support of patients with COPD and their spouses. METHOD: Questionnaires concerning psychological distress and quality of life were sent by mail to 97 patients and 54 spouses (43 couples). RESULTS: We found increased scores of anxiety and depression. In terms of quality of life the patients reported significantly lower scores than their spouses. Patients as well as their spouses reported a high satisfaction about the given medical support. CONCLUSION: Spouses of COPD patients are at increased risk for psychiatric morbidity und should therefore be included regularly in care programs.

[Quality of life and alexithymia in somatoform pain disorder]. / Lebensqualität und alexithyme Merkmale bei Patienten mit somatoformer Schmerzstörung.

BACKGROUND: Patients with somatoform pain disorders (SPD) frequently display reduced quality of life (QoL) and increased levels of alexithymia. This study investigated the association of QoL and alexithymia in a sample of SPD. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty-one patients with SPD (average time since onset: 11.6 years) were assessed in terms of alexithymia (TAS-20), QoL (WHOQOL-BREF), psychological distress and somatisation (SCL-90-R), and depression (MADRS). RESULTS: In SPD patients a significant negative correlation was observed between QoL and alexithymia, particularly the psychological domain of QoL and the TAS-20 total score (r=-.63, p<.001). The TAS-20 subscale "Difficulty Describing Feelings" was revealed to be a significant predictor of the psychological domain of QoL (beta=-.34, p<.01), even after controlling for depression, somatisation and gender. CONCLUSION: Patients with SPD show a remarkably reduced QoL and alexithymia appears to play a significant role for low QoL. Clinicians need to pay careful attention to alexithymia with regard to diagnosis and treatment planning in SPD patients.

Mutual influence of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and chronic pain among injured accident survivors: a longitudinal study.

The relationship between acute stress disorder (ASD), posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD), and chronic pain was investigated in a longitudinal study of injured accident victims (N = 323, 64.7% men). Assessments took place 5 days (T1), 6 (T2) months, and 12 (T3) months postaccident. Relations between pain and posttraumatic stress symptoms were tested by structural equation modeling. Subjects diagnosed with full or subsyndromal PTSD at T2 and at T3 (14 and 19%) reported significantly higher pain intensity. Cross-lagged panel analysis yielded a mutual maintenance of pain intensity and ASD or PTSD symptoms across T2. Across the second half year, PTSD symptoms impacted significantly on pain but not vice versa. Clinicians need to pay careful attention to PTSD symptoms in accident survivors suffering from chronic pain.

[Supportive needs and satisfaction in cancer outpatients and their spouses]. / Therapiewünsche und Behandlungszufriedenheit bei ambulanten Krebspatienten und deren Ehepartnern.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the satisfaction of outpatients treated for cancer and their spouses as regards to medical and psychosocial care. A second focus of interest included the understanding the extend of support needs not yet covered by the existing system. METHOD: 224 outpatients with different cancer types and different stages as well and their 224 spouses were assessed by questionnaires. RESULTS: The needs of the patients were significantly better covered in all areas investigated than those of their spouses. A high level of satisfaction was revealed in the aspect of understanding and confidence with doctors and other medical stuff as well as the information on the disease. Also regarding on the various ways of treatment and how a patient could keep his own mental balance were considered satisfactory. By patients, spouses and doctors were considered by far as the most important support. A significant number of patients and spouses reported a lack of assistance or advice in relevant social support aspects. CONCLUSION: The wishes and needs of the spouses are considerably less taken into account within the exististing outpatient oncological medical treatment than those of the patients. As the spouses are heavily impacted by a psychological stress due their partners disease and the support duties, we require to ameliorate the assessment of the needs of relatives and to communicate better existing support programmes.

Quality of life and dyadic adjustment in oral cancer patients and their female partners.

The diagnosis of cancer affects not only the lives of patients, but also the lives of their family members. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of oral cancer on quality of life (QoL), psychological distress and marital satisfaction in a sample of patients and their wives. Thirty-one men treated for oral cancer (mean time since diagnosis 3.7 years) and their female partners (n = 31) were assessed by questionnaires with regard to QoL (WHOQOL-BREF), anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS), quality of relationship (Dyadic Adjustment Scale, DAS) and physical complaints (EORTC QOL-H&N35). Quality of life was remarkably high in patients and their partners. In patients, lower QoL was associated with more physical complaints and higher levels of psychological distress (HADS), whereas in wives, QoL was found to be related to marital quality (DAS) and levels of distress. In couples with highly discrepant ratings of marital satisfaction, wives reported more psychological distress. The findings indicate that overall QoL is considerably high in patients treated for oral cancer and their partners living in stable relationships. Quality of life correlates stronger with the quality of relationship in spouses than in patients. Generally, marital satisfaction appears to be an important moderating factor regarding QoL and psychological distress.

Parents' mental health after the birth of an extremely preterm child: a comparison between bereaved and non-bereaved parents.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of extremely preterm birth (24-26 weeks of gestation) on the mental health of parents two to six years after delivery, and to examine potential differences in post-traumatic growth between parents whose newborn infant died and those whose child survived. METHOD: A total of 54 parents who had lost their newborn and 38 parents whose preterm child survived were assessed by questionnaires with regard to depression and anxiety (HADS) and post-traumatic growth (PTGI). RESULTS: Neither group of parents had clinically relevant levels of depression and anxiety. Mothers showed higher levels of anxiety than fathers. Bereaved parents with no other, living child reported higher levels of depression than bereaved parents with one or more children. Mothers reported higher post-traumatic growth compared to fathers. In particular, bereaved mothers experienced the value and quality of their close social relationships more positively compared to the non-bereaved parents. CONCLUSION: In the long term, bereaved and non-bereaved parents cope reasonably well with an extremely preterm birth of a child. Post-traumatic growth appears to be positively related to bereavement, particularly in mothers.

[Prevalence of anxiety and depression in cancer outpatients and their spouses]. / Prävalenz von Angst und Depression bei ambulanten Krebspatienten und deren Angehörigen.

OBJECTIVE: To assess prevalence rates of anxiety disorder and depression in patients and their spouses treated in a cancer outpatient clinic of a university hospital. Also the distress-thermometer (DT) was tested as a screening instrument for anxiety disorders and depression. METHOD: 109 patients with different cancer types of different stages as well as their 109 spouses were assessed by questionnaires. RESULTS: In the patient sample anxiety levels were increased in 24.7% and in 20.2% for depression. In spouses anxiety levels were increased in 41.0% and in 21.6% for depression. Female spouses had higher anxiety levels than male spouses (p < 0.01); increased anxiety levels were found in 48% of the female spouses. In the patients sample the distress-thermometer has good values for sensitivity [0.93 (anxiety); 0.82 (depression)] and satisfying measures of specifity [0.68 (anxiety); 0.62 (depression)]. CONCLUSION: Female spouses of cancer patients are at increased risk for psychiatric morbidity, a fact that should be considered in future oncological care. The distress-thermometer is a simple, time saving and sensitive screening instrument to assess psychiatric morbidity in cancer patients, which can be recommended for clinical use.