The effect of character on pain perception in patients with chronic pain

Cilj istraživanja: Glavni je cilj bio ispitati bolesnike s kroničnom boli o percepciji boli i karakternim osobinama, utvrditi povezanost između njih te rezultate usporediti s kontrolnom skupinom. Nacrt studije: Studija je ustrojena kao istraživanje slučajeva i kontrola. Ispitanici i metode: Slučajevi su ispitanici (n = 98) liječeni zbog kronične boli različite etiologije u Zavodu za liječenje boli KBC-a Osijek, a njihove kontrole (n = 42) ispitanici bez kronične boli usklađeni po dobi i spolu s prvom skupinom. Podatci su prikupljeni anketnim upitnikom koji se sastojao od pitanja o dobi i spolu ispitanika, brojčane skale za procjenu jakosti boli, upitnika za ispitivanje ličnosti (IPIP-50) te skale za ispitivanje razine anksioznosti (GAD-7) i depresivnosti (PHQ-9). Rezultati: U skupini ispitanika s kroničnom boli nema značajne povezanosti između karakternih osobina i razine percipirane boli. Ipak, u skupini svih ispitanika značajna je negativna povezanost između emocionalne stabilnosti i razine percipirane boli te pozitivna povezanost između otvorenosti k iskustvu i razine percipirane boli. U skupini ispitanika s kroničnom boli značajna je pozitivna povezanost između razine percipirane boli i razine anksioznosti i depresivnosti. Ispitanici s kroničnom boli imaju značajno nižu aritmetičku sredinu razine emocionalne stabilnosti od ispitanika bez kronične boli. Zaključak: U ispitanika liječenih zbog kronične boli (n = 98) nema značajne povezanosti između karaktera i razine percipirane boli. Međutim, u skupini svih ispitanika značajno je povezana emocionalna stabilnost i otvorenost k iskustvu ispitanika s percepcijom boli. Također, pokazalo se da ispitanici s kroničnom boli imaju značajno nižu vrijednost emocionalne stabilnosti od ispitanika bez kronične boli.Objectives: The main aim of this research was to question chronic pain patients regarding pain perception and character traits as well as to establish the correlation between the mentioned variables and compare them with the control group. Study Design: Case-control study Participants and methods: The cases were participants (n = 98) treated for chronic pain of variable etiology at the Department of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation and Intensive Care at the Clinical Hospital Center Osijek, and their controls (n = 42) were participants without chronic pain who were aligned by age and gender with the first group. The data were collected by means of an anonymous questionnaire that consisted of questions on age and gender, numeric scale for rating pain intensity, the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP-50) and scales for rating anxiety (GAD-7) and depression (PHQ-9). Results: Among participants with chronic pain there is no significant correlation between character traits and rates of perceived pain. Nevertheless, among all participants there is a significant negative correlation between emotional stability and rates of perceived pain as well as a significant positive correlation between openness to experience and rates of perceived pain. In the group of participants with chronic pain there is a significant positive correlation between the rates of perceived pain and the rates of anxiety and depression. Participants with chronic pain have a significantly lower arithmetic mean of emotional stability level than participants with no chronic pain. Conclusion: Among participants treated for chronic pain (n = 98) there is no significant correlation between character and rates of perceived pain. However, among all participants there is a significant correlation between emotional stability and openness to experience on the one hand, and pain perception on the other. Moreover, it was shown that participants with chronic pain had a significantly lower value of emotional stability than participants with no chronic pain