Biomarkers in Pain

Dear Colleagues,

Acute and chronic pain are two major reasons patients seek healthcare. Approximately 20% of the world’s population suffers from chronic pain, and in the USA alone, annual economic losses due to chronic pain are estimated to be USD 600 billion. Apart from being a major economic burden for society, chronic pain is also a major cause of decreased quality of life.

Chronic pain is often difficult to treat, and we have few objective measures for evaluating the pain level. Patients in pain therefore often struggle have their pain problems acknowledged, as pain is a subjective experience that is difficult to verify. During the last decade, biomarkers related to chronic pain have been investigated. The discovery of such markers could not only be used to improve diagnoses and prognostication of patients with chronic pain but could also support those who file an insurance claim after an injury. Biomarkers of pain could also be used to distinguish different causes of pain, allowing for improved selection of treatments. Such markers could also provide pharmaceutical companies with a tool for evaluating pain relief effects in clinical trials.

The focus of this Special Issue of Biomedicines is on the value of biomarkers of pain in a broad perspective.

Biomarkers of pain may be used to identify and quantify pain of various origins in order to facilitate adequate therapeutic interventions. Extensive prescription of analgesics, especially opioids, is associated with overdose deaths. Although pain is a subjective experience, the use of determinants of pain as an end point in clinical trials may help to predict the safety as well as analgesic efficacy of new drugs.

Dr. Mats Eriksson
Prof. Dr. Anders O. Larsson
Guest Editors

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• analgesia
• biomarker
• CSF
• cytokine
• inflammation
• neuropathy
• neurotransmitter
• pain
• QoL
• sensitization
• sensory

• 10th Anniversary of Biomedicines—Biomarkers in Pain in Biomedicines (11 articles)