142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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How catastrophic different types of pain are in women with arthritis

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014 : 1:45 PM - 2:00 PM

Katie de Luca, B App Sci, M Chiro, PhD (Cand.) , Research Centre for Gender, Health & Ageing, University of Newcastle, South West Rocks, Australia
Lynne Parkinson , Health Collaborative Research Network, Central Queensland University, Australia
Julie Byles , Research Centre for Gender Health and Ageing, University of Newcastle, Australia
Henry Pollard , School of Medicine, University of Notre Dame, Australia
Fiona Blyth , Concord Clinical School, University of Sydney, Australia
Aron Downie , Australia
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Aims: Pain catastrophizing is the exaggeration of pain due to injury or illness. The presentation of neuropathic pain in arthritis is a relatively new research area and the aim of this study is to explore whether women who have arthritis and neuropathic pain catastrophize more than women who have arthritis, but do not have neuropathic pain. 

Methods: 700 women from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Womens Health were sent a postal survey asking about their health, pain and arthritis. 579 women returned surveys (82.7% response rate). The painDETECT questionnaire and Pain Catatstrophizing Scale (PCS) were used to asses neuropathic pain and pain catastrophizing respectively. This study received ethical approval from the University of Newcastle HREC, approval number: H-2012-0144.

Results: 433 women completed both measures. 213 (83%) women had arthritis but not neuropathic pain and 44 (17%) women had arthritis with a neuropathic pain component. For those with arthritis without neuropathic pain, the median PCS score was 2 (95%CI 1,3), while the median score in those with arthritis and neuropathic pain was 17 (95%CI 11,23). This was statistically significant at the p<0.001 level.

Conclusions: There is a significant difference in the level of pain catastrophizing in women who have arthritis and who may or may not have neuropathic pain. In women with neuropathic pain, pain catastrophizing scores were higher, reflecting an exaggerated pain experience in these women.

Learning Areas:

Chronic disease management and prevention

Learning Objectives:
Identify pain catastrophizing in different types of pain in women with arthritis

Keyword(s): Chronic Disease Management and Care, Aging

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a PhD student whose thesis is on the profile of pain in older women with arthritis. I am the primary contributor to this work and my interests include arthritis, pain, ageing and chiropractic.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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