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Who benefits from multimodal rehabilitation – an exploration of pain, psychological distress, and life impacts in over 35,000 chronic pain patients identified in the swedish quality registry for pain rehabilitation

Gerdle, Björn ; Åkerblom, Sophia LU ; Brodda Jansen, Gunilla ; Enthoven, Paul ; Ernberg, Malin ; Dong, Huan Ji ; Stålnacke, Britt Marie ; Äng, Björn O. and Boersma, Katja (2019) In Journal of Pain Research 12. p.891-908
Abstract

Background: Chronic pain patients frequently suffer from psychological symptoms. There is no consensus concerning the prevalence of severe anxiety and depressive symptoms and the strength of the associations between pain intensity and psychological distress. Although an important aspect of the clinical picture is understanding how the pain condition impacts life, little is known about the relative importance of pain and psychological symptoms for individual’s life impact. The aims of this study were to identify subgroups of pain patients; to analyze if pain, psychological distress, and life impact variables influence subgrouping; and to investigate how patients in the subgroups benefit from treatments. Methods: Background variables,... (More)

Background: Chronic pain patients frequently suffer from psychological symptoms. There is no consensus concerning the prevalence of severe anxiety and depressive symptoms and the strength of the associations between pain intensity and psychological distress. Although an important aspect of the clinical picture is understanding how the pain condition impacts life, little is known about the relative importance of pain and psychological symptoms for individual’s life impact. The aims of this study were to identify subgroups of pain patients; to analyze if pain, psychological distress, and life impact variables influence subgrouping; and to investigate how patients in the subgroups benefit from treatments. Methods: Background variables, pain aspects (intensity/severity and spreading), psychological distress (depressive and anxiety symptoms), and two life impact variables (pain interference and perceived life control) were obtained from the Swedish Quality Registry for Pain Rehabilitation for chronic pain patients and analyzed mainly using advanced multivariate methods. Results: Based on >35,000 patients, 35%–40% had severe anxiety or depressive symptoms. Severe psychological distress was associated with being born outside Europe (21%–24% vs 6%–8% in the category without psychological distress) and low education level (20.7%–20.8% vs 26%–27% in the category without psychological distress). Dose relationships existed between the two psychological distress variables and pain aspects, but the explained variances were generally low. Pain intensity/severity and the two psychological distress variables were significantly associated (R2=0.40–0.48; P>0.001) with the two life impact variables (pain interference and life control). Two subgroups of patients were identified at baseline (subgroup 1: n=15,901–16,119; subgroup 2: n=20,690–20,981) and the subgroup with the worst situation regarding all variables participated less in an MMRP (51% vs 58%, P<0.001) but showed the largest improvements in outcomes. Conclusion: The results emphasize the need to assess both pain and psychological distress and not take for granted that pain involves high psychological stress in the individual case. Not all patients benefit from MMRP. A better matching between common clinical pictures and the content of MMRPs may help improve results. We only partly found support for treatment resistance in patients with psychological distress burden.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Anxiety, Chronic pain, Control, Depression, Life impact, Sociodemographic
in
Journal of Pain Research
volume
12
pages
18 pages
publisher
Dove Medical Press Ltd.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85062948895
  • pmid:30881099
ISSN
1178-7090
DOI
10.2147/JPR.S190003
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3e952257-0e29-4b19-aada-6149f316f1be
date added to LUP
2019-03-29 14:45:37
date last changed
2024-04-02 00:07:42
@article{3e952257-0e29-4b19-aada-6149f316f1be,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: Chronic pain patients frequently suffer from psychological symptoms. There is no consensus concerning the prevalence of severe anxiety and depressive symptoms and the strength of the associations between pain intensity and psychological distress. Although an important aspect of the clinical picture is understanding how the pain condition impacts life, little is known about the relative importance of pain and psychological symptoms for individual’s life impact. The aims of this study were to identify subgroups of pain patients; to analyze if pain, psychological distress, and life impact variables influence subgrouping; and to investigate how patients in the subgroups benefit from treatments. Methods: Background variables, pain aspects (intensity/severity and spreading), psychological distress (depressive and anxiety symptoms), and two life impact variables (pain interference and perceived life control) were obtained from the Swedish Quality Registry for Pain Rehabilitation for chronic pain patients and analyzed mainly using advanced multivariate methods. Results: Based on &gt;35,000 patients, 35%–40% had severe anxiety or depressive symptoms. Severe psychological distress was associated with being born outside Europe (21%–24% vs 6%–8% in the category without psychological distress) and low education level (20.7%–20.8% vs 26%–27% in the category without psychological distress). Dose relationships existed between the two psychological distress variables and pain aspects, but the explained variances were generally low. Pain intensity/severity and the two psychological distress variables were significantly associated (R2=0.40–0.48; P&gt;0.001) with the two life impact variables (pain interference and life control). Two subgroups of patients were identified at baseline (subgroup 1: n=15,901–16,119; subgroup 2: n=20,690–20,981) and the subgroup with the worst situation regarding all variables participated less in an MMRP (51% vs 58%, P&lt;0.001) but showed the largest improvements in outcomes. Conclusion: The results emphasize the need to assess both pain and psychological distress and not take for granted that pain involves high psychological stress in the individual case. Not all patients benefit from MMRP. A better matching between common clinical pictures and the content of MMRPs may help improve results. We only partly found support for treatment resistance in patients with psychological distress burden.</p>}},
  author       = {{Gerdle, Björn and Åkerblom, Sophia and Brodda Jansen, Gunilla and Enthoven, Paul and Ernberg, Malin and Dong, Huan Ji and Stålnacke, Britt Marie and Äng, Björn O. and Boersma, Katja}},
  issn         = {{1178-7090}},
  keywords     = {{Anxiety; Chronic pain; Control; Depression; Life impact; Sociodemographic}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{891--908}},
  publisher    = {{Dove Medical Press Ltd.}},
  series       = {{Journal of Pain Research}},
  title        = {{Who benefits from multimodal rehabilitation – an exploration of pain, psychological distress, and life impacts in over 35,000 chronic pain patients identified in the swedish quality registry for pain rehabilitation}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S190003}},
  doi          = {{10.2147/JPR.S190003}},
  volume       = {{12}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}