Evaluating the Relationship Between Depression and Pain Anxiety with Pain Catastrophizing in Patients with COVID-19

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between depression and pain anxiety with pain catastrophizing in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

In this descriptive, correlational study, 180 patients with COVID-19 in Akhtar and Imam Hossein hospitals in Tehran, Iran, were included from March 2019 to April 2020. All participants completed three questionnaires, including the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale (PASS), and Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI). The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and multivariate regression.

There was a positive and significant relationship between the dimensions of rumination, magnification, and helplessness with total score of pain catastrophizing, as well as moderate to severe dimensions with total pain anxiety and depression in patients with COVID-19.

According to the results of regression analysis, pain anxiety based on pain catastrophizing dimensions was statistically significant, so that rumination, magnification, and helplessness could predict pain anxiety and explain a total of 15.1% of changes in pain anxiety. Also, depression was statistically significant based on dimensions of pain catastrophizing, so rumination, magnification, and helplessness could predict the patients’ depression and explain 13.6% of depression changes.