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Objectives: Beliefs and knowledge about pain can influence how an individual approaches pain management. At present, there have been no investigations into the beliefs and knowledge that females hold about their pelvic pain; therefore, pain intervention approaches may not be targeted at current patient understandings. Exploring beliefs and knowledge may help inform and subsequently improve pain intervention outcomes for pelvic pain by allowing more tailored content to be delivered. This study aimed to identify beliefs and knowledge that females hold about their pelvic pain., Methods: Semi-structured interviews (n=12) were conducted. Based on the Common Sense Model, interview questions investigated participants' beliefs and knowledge related to the identity (diagnostic labels), cause, consequence, control, and timeline of their pelvic pain. Transcribed interviews were analysed using an Interpretive Description Framework., Results: Participants reported holding biopsychosocial understandings of pain; however, many described their own pain experience in a way that was more aligned with the biomedical model of pain, suggesting incongruence in pain understandings. Participants valued their ability to take charge of their pain management, highlighting bodily autonomy and being proactive in pain management approaches. This approach to management did not provide total control over participants' pelvic pain. Pelvic pain was perceived as disruptive of life, both at present and into the future, with predictability of pain varying over time., Discussion: This study provides insight into the perspectives of females with pelvic pain. Recommendations for clinicians are provided with a focus on delivering targeted education and equipping patients with helpful representations of their pain., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest and Sources of Funding: This study has received no financial support. KJC is supported by a Leadership Investigator grant to Professor Lorimer Moseley from the National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia (ID 1178444) and has received payment for presentations given on pelvic health. AKM is supported by a research grant awarded to A/Prof. Mike Armour from the Wilson Foundation. AKM has received speaker fees for lectures on pelvic pain. K.J.C. is supported by a grant awarded from The Hospital Research Fund (Grant No. PG105576). Professional bodies have reimbursed her for travel costs related to presentation of research on pelvic pain at scientific conferences. SMC, JAB and SB have no conflicts of interest or financial support to declare., (Copyright © 2024 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Abstract: This systematic review and meta-analysis critically examined the evidence for peer support interventions to reduce pain and improve health outcomes in community-dwelling adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain (PROSPERO CRD42022356850). A systematic search (inception-January 2023) of electronic databases and grey literature was undertaken to identify relevant randomised controlled trials, with risk of bias and GRADE assessments performed on included studies. Meta-analyses used a generic, inverse-variance, random-effects model, calculating mean difference (MD) or standardised mean difference (SMD). Of 16,445 records identified, 29 records reporting on 24 studies (n = 6202 participants) were included. All evidence had unclear/high risk of bias and low-very low certainty. Peer support interventions resulted in small improvements in pain (medium-term: MD -3.48, 95% CI -6.61, -0.35; long-term: MD -1.97, 95% CI -3.53, -0.42), self-efficacy (medium-term: SMD 0.26, 95% CI 0.16, 0.36; long-term: SMD 0.21, 95% CI 0.07, 0.36), and function (long-term: SMD -0.10, 95% CI -0.19, -0.00) relative to usual care and greater self-efficacy (medium-term: SMD 0.36, 95% CI 0.20, 0.51) relative to waitlist control. Peer support interventions resulted in similar improvement as active (health professional led) interventions bar long-term self-efficacy (MD -0.41, 95% CI -0.77, -0.05), which favoured active interventions. No point estimates reached minimal clinically important difference thresholds. Pooled health service utilisation outcomes showed unclear estimates. Self-management, quality of life, and social support outcomes had mixed evidence. Despite low-very low evidence certainty, peer support interventions demonstrated small improvements over usual care and waitlist controls for some clinical outcomes, suggesting that peer support may be useful as an adjunct to other treatments for musculoskeletal pain., (Copyright © 2024 International Association for the Study of Pain.)

Normal polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) in the circulation are resting cells expressing small numbers of low affinity receptors. During inflammation they are upregulated to increase expression of high affinity receptors and discharge both primary and secondary granules. This is reflected by a pattern of changes which can be detected in PMN from the circulation of patients with infection, trauma or burns. Different patterns of abnormality occur in patients with systemic disease and increased risk of infection such as diabetes and renal failure. Functional defects also occur in PMN from patients with acquired blood disorders. It is likely that PMN contribute to tissue damage in inflammatory and vascular diseases so that drugs which modulate PMN function will be of future therapeutic benefit.