SynthesisPain2020
Positive affect and chronic pain: a preregistered systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Pain, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review and meta-analysis finds that psychological well-being predicts all-cause mortality independently of psychological ill-being.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Thriving when living with chronic pain: A qualitative evidence synthesis of individuals' experiences.British journal of health psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Mindfulness buffers the association of pain with depression and anxiety among people with spinal cord injury: A cross-sectional study.Rehabilitation psychology · 2026Trial
- Assessing the effect of Loving-Kindness Meditation on pain and social well-being using a randomized controlled trial design.PloS one · 2026Trial
- Outcomes of a Remotely Delivered Complementary and Integrative Health Partnered Intervention to Improve Chronic Pain and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Trial
- Mobile and Web-Based Partnered Intervention to Improve Remote Access to Pain and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Management: Recruitment and Attrition in a Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Trial
- A Community Health Worker-Led Positive Psychology Intervention for African American Older Adults With Chronic Pain.The Gerontologist · 2022Trial
- Widespread Pressure Delivered by a Weighted Blanket Reduces Chronic Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial.The journal of pain · 2022Trial
- Psychophysical predictors of experimental muscle pain intensity following fatiguing calf exercise.PloS one · 2021Trial
- From review to synthesis: A step-by-step methodological guide to systematic reviews and multilevel meta-analyses.Behavior research methods · 2026Article
- Chronic Overlapping Pain and Central Sensitization in Chronic Pelvic Pain: Do Positive and Negative Affect Play a Role?Pain research & management · 2026Article
- Association between chronic pain and mental health among nurses in China: a national cross-sectional study.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Sex differences in the transition to chronic pain.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2025Review
- Psychophysical changes after total sleep deprivation and experimental muscle pain.Journal of sleep research · 2025Article
- What makes life go well? A network topic modeling analysis of well-being practices in adults with chronic pain.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Significant influence of low positive affect on pain: impact of COVID-19 on affect and daily chronic non-cancer pain trajectories in women.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- From taboo to treatment: The emergence of psychedelics in the management of pain and opioid use disorder.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2024Review
- Sleep Disruption Moderates the Daily Dynamics of Affect and Pain in Sickle Cell Disease.The journal of pain · 2024Article
- Benchmark findings from a veteran electronic patient-reported outcomes evaluation from a chronic pain management telehealth program.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Promoting a foundation of resilience in older adults: pilot trial of a strengths-based positive psychology intervention for chronic low back pain.Health psychology and behavioral medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Chronic noncancer pain (CNCP) is a significant health burden among adults. Standard behavioral therapies typically focus on targeting negative affect (NA) and yield only modest treatment effects. The aims of this study were to systematically review and investigate the association between positive affect (PA) and pain severity among adults with CNCP. Databases that were searched included MEDLINE (PubMed), PsycINFO, CINAHL, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, OLASTER, Open Grey, and PsyArXiv (inception to July 23, 2019). We analyzed studies that: (1) used observational, experimental, or intervention study designs; (2) enrolled individuals with CNCP (pain ≥ 12 weeks); and (3) reported full quantitative results on outcomes. Two researchers independently screened articles, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias. The main meta-analysis was followed by subgroup analyses. All analyses were performed using random-effects models. Formal tests for heterogeneity (Q-statistic; I) and publication bias (p-curve and p-uniform*) were performed. We meta-analyzed 29 studies with 3521 participants. Results demonstrated that PA inversely impacts pain severity in people with CNCP (r = -0.23). Subgroup analyses showed a significant effect for gender and marginally significant effects for age in studies that adjusted for NA. On average, effect sizes for observational studies were larger in studies with a higher proportion of female respondents and in studies that did not adjust for NA. Finally, larger effect sizes were found in intervention studies with older compared with younger samples.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.