Review of the chronic pain literature reveals that there have been few systematic attempts to devise rating scales which reliably and/or validly quantify pain behavior. The UAB Pain Behavior Scale was designed so that it could be administered rapidly by a variety of pain team personnel without sacrificing interrater reliability. The scale is described along with initial reliability and validity data. A summary of its use with chronic pain patients is presented.

The relationship between persistent pain in spinal cord injury and medical-descriptive, demographic, psychological and familial-social data was studied. Multiple linear regression and discriminant analysis were used to predict (1) presence or absence of pain; (2) severity of pain; (3) time post-injury onset of pain; (4) whether or not pain interfered with activities of daily living. The best combinations of predictor variables accounted for only 15 and 19% of the dependent measures pain vs. no-pain and onset of pain, respectively. The best combinations of predictor variables accounted for 43 and 44%, respectively of the dependent measures severity of pain and whether or not pain interfered with activities of daily living. Higher levels of subjective pain were associated with greater age, higher verbal intelligence, higher levels of anxiety and a more negative psycho-social situation. Persons who reported pain interfering with activities of daily living were more likely to be older, of higher intelligence, more depressed, clinically rated as experiencing greater levels of distress and immersed in a more negative psycho-social environment. The importance of psycho-social variables in the understanding of persistent spinal cord injury pain and the need for prospective studies along these lines are demonstrated.

Abstract. One hundred twenty-six male spinal cord injury patients whose acute bladder management included indwelling urethral catheters were converted to an intermittent catheterisation programme and most of them subsequently achieved a catheter-free state. A higher prevalence of pyelocaliectasis was observed in these patients compared to previous reports of similar changes in patients upon whom intermittent catheterisation was initiated immediately after injury. Right side predominance of pyelocaliectasis was demonstrated but requires further study. The extent of neurological deficit (complete or incomplete lesions) does not appear to influence the development of pyelocaliectasis. These findings support our contention that intensive urological follow-up is necessary for all spinal cord injury patients even though a catheter-free state has been achieved through use of intermittent catheterisation.

No abstract

Insensible weightlosses (IWL) were determined in each of 24 patients with physiologically complete spinal cord transection. The patients were placed on a bed balance with an accuracy of +/- 5 g in an environmental chamber maintained at 24 degrees C. dry bulb and 17 degrees C. wet bulb temperature. Bihourly weight changes, corrected for food and fluid ingestion, were determined for a total of 24 hours. Tetraplegics have significantly lower (P less than 0.05) IWL than paraplegics. The IWL of paraplegics are in the range of IWL of normal persons reported in the literature. We conclude that a lower allowance for IWL should be for tetraplegics than for paraplegics or persons with intact spinal cords.