Relationship between pain intensity, depressive symptoms, disability level and physical functioning in chronic low back pain Turkish patients: Gender differences

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the relationship between pain intensity, disability, emotional status and physical functioning and compare this relationship in men and women with Chronic Low Back Pain (CLBP). This study included 118 subjects (73 women and 45 men), with a mean age of 43.16±8.74 years. A Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was used to detect pain intensity. Depressive symptoms were evaluated using by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) was used to determine disability score of the subjects. Physical functioning was evaluated with the use of the Fifty-Foot Walk (FWS), the Sit to Stand (STS) and the Bend Forward Test (BFT). Significant differences were found between the females and males in all outcome measures (p?0.05). The results showed that the women had higher pain intensity, depression and disability scores compared with men (p = 0.0001). On the other hand, the women had lower physical functioning test scores (p = 0.0001). The investigators detected the presence of a significant positive correlation between physical functioning measures and pain intensity, disability level and emotional status in both males and females.