Objective:To analyze the current status, hotspots and frontiers of pain catastrophizing at home and abroad from 2012 to 2022, so as to provide reference for research on pain catastrophizing in China.Methods:Article retrieval were conducted on the Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang Data and VIP using the Chinese and English keywords "pain catastrophizing". The search period was from January 1, 2012 to August 24, 2022. The articles were analyzed using the CiteSpace software.Results:A total of 2036 English articles and 83 Chinese articles were included. The overall number of articles was increasing year by year, with the countries and institutions with the highest publication volume being the United States and the University of Washington. Research hotspots at home and abroad included pain, low back pain, quality of life, influencing factors, anxiety, depression, joint replacement, scale validation, kinesiophobia and so on.Conclusions:The research on pain catastrophizing abroad is increasingly receiving widespread attention, while domestic research is still in its infancy. Domestic researchers can use various methods to explore the occurrence and influencing factors of pain catastrophizing among different disease groups in China, deeply explore the mechanism of pain catastrophizing, and focus on the correlation between pain catastrophizing and exercise rehabilitation outcomes to help patients cope with pain.

Background: Twenty-four-hour urinary free cortisol (UFC) measurement is the initial diagnostic test for Cushing’s syndrome (CS). We compared UFC determination by both direct and extraction immunoassays using Abbott Architect, Siemens Atellica Solution, and Beckman DxI800 with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). In addition, we evaluated the value of 24-hr UFC measured by six methods for diagnosing CS. Methods: Residual 24-hr urine samples of 94 CS and 246 non-CS patients were collected.A laboratory-developed LC-MS/MS method was used as reference. UFC was measured by direct assays (D) using Abbott, Siemens, and Beckman platforms and by extraction assays (E) using Siemens and Beckman platforms. Method was compared using Passing–Bablok regression and Bland–Altman plot analyses. Cut-off values for the six assays and corresponding sensitivities and specificities were calculated by ROC analysis. Results: Abbott-D, Beckman-E, Siemens-E, and Siemens-D showed strong correlations with LC-MS/MS (Spearman coefficient r = 0.965, 0.922, 0.922, and 0.897, respectively), while Beckman-D showed weaker correlation (r = 0.755). All immunoassays showed proportionally positive bias. The areas under the curve were 0.975 for Abbott-D, 0.972 for LCMS/MS, 0.966 for Siemens-E, 0.948 for Siemens-D, 0.955 for Beckman-E, and 0.877 for Beckman-D. The cut-off values varied significantly (154.8–1,321.5 nmol/24 hrs). Assay sensitivity and specificity ranged from 76.1% to 93.2% and from 93.0% to 97.1%, respectively. Conclusions Commercially available immunoassays for measuring UFC show different levels of analytical consistency compared to LC-MS/MS. Abbott-D, Siemens-E, and Beckman-E have high diagnostic accuracy for CS.