To bridge the gender gap in the medical sphere, Tufts University in Boston has launched a project for the treatment of those who suffer from chronic pain, of whom 70% are women. The researchers will analyse 30 biomarkers for pain measurement, taking into account the psychological factors related to this problem.
70% of individuals affected by chronic pain, which can result from various factors (peripheral nerve inflammation, fibromyalgia, trauma, surgical procedures, and other causes that are not always easy to pin down) are women. However, chronic pain is still not very well understood nor has it been the subject of specific study, including with regard to its psychological impacts (it can often give rise to symptoms of depression, sometimes serious, as well as sleep difficulties and disorders, fatigue, and cognitive issues).
In order to develop new diagnostic criteria and more accurately measure chronic pain in women, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (a U.S. government agency) awarded Tufts University in Boston three million dollars, as part of a broader initiative (Sprint for Women's Health), which was launched to narrow the gender gap in the field of medical research (all too often tilted in favour of men), and to offer solutions for those disorders that, indeed, either predominantly or exclusively affect women.
Tufts University will therefore have to find a way to “decode”, in detail, the different characteristics of the chronic pain experienced by women—not an easy task, given the extreme variations between these types of disorders and the subjective way in which they are perceived, often influenced by patients’ family situations and social backgroundsThat is precisely why the goal of obtaining uniform and standardised assessments has always been a difficult one to achieve.
The researchers in Boston will start with what has been discovered to date and will attempt to rationalise the data. Specifically, they will quantify 30 physiological biomarkers, like those related to stress and inflammation, and those specific to the interstitial fluid between skin cells, which contains large quantities of the molecules involved in pain perception.
To these biomarkers they will add measurements of other parameters linked to pain, such as heart rate, breathing, and galvanic skin response (to electricity), which vary based on perspiration and on the activity of the sweat glands (which are in turn linked to stress and to our response to strong emotions).
This will all be combined with a set of targeted questionnaires, which the women participating in the study will have to fill out. All of the data (biomarkers and answers on the questionnaires) will be merged to form one balanced, standardised framework, with the use of artificial intelligence systems.
Measuring chronic pain in real time
“Having an objective tool to assess chronic pain in women will help to provide a more rational basis for diagnosis and treatment,” explains Sameer Sonkusale, professor of computer engineering at Tufts University and main author of the project.
Subsequently, the researchers will be asked to narrow down the results to the five most reliable biomarkers linked to pain, so that these can be monitored in real time using a portable device, which will in turn transmit information to doctors and patients via smartphones. In this way, specialists will be able to take swift and tailored action, offering advice and treatments.
According to the researchers, if this type of device works well and its use becomes widespread, we will achieve great improvement in managing pain in women compared to the current situation, where such management is entrusted almost exclusively to “standard” drugs that are not always effective. The availability of devices such as those described above, Sonkusale states, would also allow us to accelerate development of new medicines and treatments.