Psychological, clinical and socio-demographic predictors of pain catastrophizing in chronic pain patients: insights from a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background. Considering the complexities surrounding chronic pain and its profound psychological impact, including the role of maladaptive pain beliefs like pain catastrophizing, it becomes essential to delve deeper into the factors contributing to this phenomenon. The aim was to study the characteristics of pain catastrophizing in the Ukrainian population of patients with chronic pain. Materials and methods. This research was a crosssectional observational study involving 150 participants suffering from chronic pain who consented to take part. A set of socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, as well as the results of some psychological assessments, such as the Pain Catastrophizing Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, were used to study and describe the structure and correlates of pain catastrophizing in patients with chronic pain. To assess pain intensity, the visual analog scale was used.