Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35135995›Full record

ArticlePain2022

Impaired pain-related threat and safety learning in patients with chronic back pain.

Frederik Schlitt, Katharina Schmidt, Christian J Merz, Oliver T Wolf, Julian Kleine-Borgmann, Sigrid Elsenbruch, Katja Wiech, Katarina Forkmann, Ulrike Bingel

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Pain, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
1.2field-weighted citation impact, top 21% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Mechanisms Underlying Pain Avoidance in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026
    Observational
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Frederik SchlittDepartment of Neurology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences, University Medicine Essen, Essen, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-6130-5869
Katharina SchmidtDepartment of Neurology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences, University Medicine Essen, Essen, Germany.
Christian J MerzDepartment of Cognitive Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-5679-6595
Oliver T WolfDepartment of Cognitive Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-9320-2124
Julian Kleine-BorgmannDepartment of Neurology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences, University Medicine Essen, Essen, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-7941-0595
Sigrid ElsenbruchDepartment of Neurology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences, University Medicine Essen, Essen, Germany.
Katja WiechNuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Oxford, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-5062-1046
Katarina ForkmannDepartment of Neurology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences, University Medicine Essen, Essen, Germany.
Ulrike BingelDepartment of Neurology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences, University Medicine Essen, Essen, Germany.
Ruhr University Bochum · DEJohn Radcliffe Hospital · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

abstractPain-related learning mechanisms likely play a key role in the development and maintenance of chronic pain. Previous smaller-scale studies have suggested impaired pain-related learning in patients with chronic pain, but results are mixed, and chronic back pain (CBP) particularly has been poorly studied. In a differential conditioning paradigm with painful heat as unconditioned stimuli, we examined pain-related acquisition and extinction learning in 62 patients with CBP and 61 pain-free healthy male and female volunteers using valence and contingency ratings and skin conductance responses. Valence ratings indicate significantly reduced threat and safety learning in patients with CBP, whereas no significant differences were observed in contingency awareness and physiological responding. Moreover, threat learning in this group was more impaired the longer patients had been in pain. State anxiety was linked to increased safety learning in healthy volunteers but enhanced threat learning in the patient group. Our findings corroborate previous evidence of altered pain-related threat and safety learning in patients with chronic pain. Longitudinal studies exploring pain-related learning in (sub)acute and chronic pain are needed to further unravel the role of aberrant pain-related learning in the development and maintenance of chronic pain.

Indexed as

Chronic PainExtinction, PsychologicalBack PainConditioning, ClassicalFearFemaleHumansMale

Identifiers

PMID35135995
PMCPMC9341232
OpenAlexW4200574243

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.