engleski

Influence of combat related post-traumatic stress symptoms on quality of pain in Croatian war veterans with PTSD and chronic pain

Introduction: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an extreme response to a traumatic event. Chronic PTSD is associated with various somatic illnesses including chronic pain, and up to 80% of PTSD veterans suffer from chronic pain state. The aim of this research was to investigate the influence of PTSD symptoms on quality of pain in Croatian war veterans who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder and chronic pain. Methods: Study included 320 male war veterans. McGill Questionnaire for pain and Trauma Symptom Inventory were used for this purpose. Results: significant correlations were found between intensity of PTSD symptoms and affective and sensory pain (re-experience and sensory pain: r = 0.32 ; p < 0.05 ; avoiding and sensory pain: r = 0.21 ; p < 0.05 ; emotional arousal and sensory pain: r = 0.46 ; p < 0.001 ; re-experience and affective pain: r = 0.49 ; p < 0.001 ; avoiding and affective pain: r = 0.57 ; p < 0.001 ; emotional arousal and affective pain: r = 0.6 ; p < 0.001). The regression model indicates that re-experiencing the traumatic event, avoiding reminders, and emotional trauma were predictive of sensory pain (R= 0.525 ; p < 0.001) as well as of affective pain (R = 0.676 ; p < 0.001). The most predictive factor in explanation of sensory pain is emotional arousal (β = 0.365 ; p < 0.05), and the most predictive factor in affective pain is re-experiencing the traumatic events (β = 0.634 ; p < 0.001). Avoidance as a symptom of PTSD was not a predictive factor neither of sensory pain nor of affective pain (β = 0.011 ; p = n.s. ; β = 0.15 ; p = n.s.). Conclusions: The results showed a synergistic effect of PTSD symptoms on quality of chronic pain and multidisciplinary while the effects of multimodal programme for treating PTSD patients with chronic pain must still be established.

PTSD ; Chronic Pain ; Quality of LIfe

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