Normative data for chronic pain questionnaires are essential to the interpretation of aggregate scores on these questionnaires, for both clinical trials and clinical practice. In this study, we summarised data from 13,343 heterogeneous patients on several commonly used pain questionnaires that were routinely collected from 36 pain clinics in Australia and New Zealand as part of the electronic Persistent Pain Outcomes Collaboration (ePPOC) including the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI); the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS); the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ); and the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS). The data are presented as summarised normative data, broken down by demographic (age, sex, work status, etc) and pain site/medical variables. The mean BPI severity score was 6.4 (moderate-severe), and mean interference score was 7.0. The mean DASS depression score was 20.2 (moderate-severe), mean DASS anxiety was 14.0 (moderate), and mean DASS stress was 21.0 (moderate). The mean PCS scores were 10.0, 5.9, 14.1, and 29.8 for rumination, magnification, helplessness, and total, respectively. The mean PSEQ score was 20.7. Men had slightly worse scores than women on some scales. Scores tended to worsen with age until 31 to 50 years, after which they improved. Scores were worse for those who had a greater number of pain sites, were unemployed, were injury compensation cases, or whose triggering event was a motor vehicle accident or injury at work or home. These results and comparisons with data on the same measures from other countries, as well as their uses in both clinical practice and clinical trials, are discussed.

How older people spend their time in different occupations could contribute to our understanding of everyday life in healthy ageing. This study adopted a time-geographic method and occupational perspective to explore the occupational engagement of community dwelling older people. The term occupational engagement encompasses what people do, where and with whom they spend their time and the perceived level of competence and meaningfulness of their time use. Nineteen volunteers born between 1932 and 1933, living alone in an urban area in northern Sweden and receiving no home care services, completed open time-geographic diaries for 5 days in May 2010. The diary data were analyzed using Daily Life software program. The study revealed the complexity and the diversity of the older people's occupational engagement and that most of their time was spent alone in their home. The older people reported they were very good at doing almost half of the occupations in which they engaged and that their occupations were primarily either very meaningful or meaningful. While some methodological limitations were identified, time-geographic studies of community dwelling older people living independently are considered to have potential to contribute to community and social planning for older people as they can provide interesting insights to older persons' time use and occupational needs.

Chronic or persistent pain is a growing global health problem. Effective management of pain emerging in childhood may prevent long-term health and vocational consequences. Internationally, paediatric pain services are a limited resource and, as such, must strive to improve equity, outcomes, and value for money. The Paediatric electronic Persistent Pain Outcomes Collaboration (PaedePPOC) is a binational paediatric outcome measurement centre that aims to measure, benchmark, and improve children's specialist pain services in Australasia. This study documents the establishment of PaedePPOC and presents baseline and initial outcome data. Binational consensus meetings determined the measures. Governance structures, collection protocols, information technology, site-specific logistics, and onsite training were achieved within 18 months. Children and parents complete baseline and progress questionnaires. Seven of 10 Australasian services provided data to PaedePPOC, with 1432 patients enrolled until June 2018. At baseline, patients were 12.4 ± (3.0) years, 68% female, 93% Australian-born, and 5% Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Most had moderate–severe functional disability and impaired quality of life, with pain affecting school attendance and employment. Opioid-containing medicines were used often or daily by 16%. Patients completing outcome measures at treatment end reported clinically significant improvement in pain intensity (49% of patients), functional ability (59%), and quality of life (69%). The PaedePPOC initiative has been successfully integrated into children's pain services, yielding timely point-of-care information to support clinicians and families, and valuable binational and service data to inform quality improvement and future sector planning.

Persistent pain and hypertension often co-occur, and share several biological and lifestyle risk factors. The present study aimed to provide insight into the prevalence of, and factors associated with, hypertension in the largest cohort of patients seeking treatment in 43 tertiary pain clinics in Australia. Adults aged > = 18 years registered to the electronic Persistent Pain Outcomes Collaboration registry between 2013 and 2018 were included if they had persistent non-cancer pain (N = 43,789). Risk Ratios (RRs) compared prevalence of selfreported hypertension with the general and primary care Australian populations, and logistic regression examined factors associated with hypertension. One in four (23.9%) patients had hypertension, which was higher than the Australian adult population

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