A study of pain and anxiety/ depression severity on patients with nonspecific chronic low back pain

Patients with low back pain like other chronic diseases, may experience psychological symptoms in addition to physical symptoms which leads to the exacerbation of the condition of these patients and reduce their quality of life. Due to lack of clinical studies in this field, this study was conducted to investigate the relationship between pain and severity of depression and anxiety in patients with nonspecific chronic low back pain.
This analytic- descriptive study was performed on 250 patients with nonspecific low back pain referring to the orthopedic clinic in Shahrekord selected by convenience sampling. Demographic questionnaire, visual analogue scale of pain, Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory were used to collect the patient’s information, pain severity, anxiety and depression. Stata software 14 was used for data analysis.
Mean ± SD of pain in women was 4.6±1.21 and higher than in men (4.1±1.25). Pain severity showed a significant difference between the groups of patients with different levels of anxiety and depression (P Patients with nonspecific chronic low back pain experience higher level of pain with increasing severity of depression and anxiety. It is necessary in treatment of patients with nonspecific low back pain to pay attention to their psychological dimensions in addition to treating physical problems to reduce pain, and take action to relieve for the modulation of anxiety, depression and quality of life in these patients.