Article
Pain severity, reported somatic symptoms and selected personality traits are associated with anxiety and depression in patients operated for spine osteoarthritis – a pilot study
Die Schwere der Schmerzen, die berichteten somatischen Symptome und ausgewählte Persönlichkeitsmerkmale sind mit Angstzuständen und Depressionen bei Patienten verbunden, die wegen Arthrose der Wirbelsäule operiert wurden – eine Pilotstudie
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Authors
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Ruslan Jekimov
- Military Medical Academy Memorial teaching Hospital of the Medical University of Lodz – Central Veterans’ Hospital, Neurosurgery, Lodz, Polen; Medical University of Lodz, Department of Neurosurgery, Spine and Peripheral Nerves Surgery, Lodz, Polen
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Agnieszka Pawelczyk
- Medical University of Lodz, Department of Neurosurgery, Spine and Peripheral Nerves Surgery, Lodz, Polen
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Tomasz Pawelczyk
- Medical University of Lodz, Department of Affective and Psychotic Disorders, Lodz, Polen
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Maciej Radek
- Military Medical Academy Memorial Teaching Hospital of the Medical University of Lodz – Central Veterans’ Hospital, Neurosurgery, Lodz, Polen; Medical University of Lodz, Department of Neurosurgery, Spine and Peripheral Nerves Surgery, Lodz, Polen
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Redwan Jabbar
- Military Medical Academy Memorial Teaching Hospital of the Medical University of Lodz – Central Veterans’ Hospital, Neurosurgery, Lodz, Polen
| Published: | June 4, 2021 |
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Outline
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Objective: Pain, especially chronic pain, is associated with the experience of depressed mood and anxiety. In turn, experienced depression often leads to the occurrence of physical pain and somatic symptoms. The coexistence of emotional problems and pain can therefore lead to a “vicious cycle” of emotional and physical symptoms in patients. However, so far, there has been little research on experienced emotions and personality traits in patients operated on for pain resulting from degenerative diseases of the spine. The aim of our pilot study was to assess whether the severity of pain, reported somatic symptoms and selected personality traits are related to the experienced anxiety and depression in surgically treated patients.
Methods: Thirty-three patients (17 women and 16 men) qualified for spine surgery underwent psychological tests with HADS (Hospital Scale for Anxiety and Depression Assessment), FCZ-KT (Formal Characteristics of Behavior - Temperament Questionnaire), NEO-FFI (Personality Inventory), PSS-10 (Perceived Stress Scale) and subjective pain assessment using VAS.
Results: Statistically significant correlations were observed between the subjective severity of anxiety and the experienced pain (p <.05), as well as between the severity of depression and the reported somatic symptoms (p <.05), experienced stress (p <.05) and Perseverance (the tendency to repeat behavior after situation) (p <.05). In the study, women did not differ from men regarding the level of anxiety, depression, reported somatic symptoms and the level of experienced stress.
Conclusion: Our pilot study shows that pain intensity and reported somatic symptoms are related to the anxiety and depression experienced by treated patients. Further prospective research could elucidate whether any cause-effect relationships exist between them; the inclusion of psychotherapeutic or pharmacological interventions could reduce the intensity of experienced emotions and, possibly also reduce pain-related discomfort or the level of pain itself. However, this issue requires further research.
