Sex differences in pain catastrophizing and its relation to the transition from acute pain to chronic pain

BMC Anesthesiology

Table 3 Multiple logistic regression analysis on the association between PCS and pain chronification, stratified by sex and corrected for potential confounders

	Pain chronification (NRS 1 at day 90)
	Male					Female
	Odds ratio	95% CI			P-value	Odds ratio	95% CI		P-value
PCS	1.17	1.05	1.29	0.004		1.11	1.01	1.21		0.024
Age	1.02	1.00	1.04	0.037		1.02	1.00	1.04		0.020
Depression	1.08	0.42	2.79	0.869		0.96	0.47	1.96		0.920
Pre-existent chronic pain	1.52	0.68	3.39	0.307		1.52	0.80	2.92		0.204
Alcohol consumption	0.80	0.44	1.47	0.475		0.61	0.34	1.09		0.099
Low education	REF	REF	REF	REF		REF	REF	REF		REF
Intermediate education	0.14	0.04	0.55	0.006		0.11	0.03	0.47		0.004
High education	0.27	0.07	0.99	0.053		0.20	0.05	0.86		0.035
Smoking	1.07	0.46	2.50	0.877		1.09	0.41	2.91		0.867
	Pain chronification (NRS 4 at day 90)
PCS	1.09	0.99	1.20	0.083		1.11	1.03	1.20		0.006
Age	1.03	1.01	1.05	0.013		1.02	1.00	1.04		0.025
Depression	0.68	0.24	1.90	0.460		0.78	0.39	1.52		0.461
Pre-existent chronic pain	2.03	0.89	4.64	0.095		1.57	0.85	2.90		0.150
Alcohol consumption	0.84	0.45	1.58	0.587		0.90	0.55	1.47		0.666
Low education	REF0	REF	REF	REF		REF	REF	REF		REF
Intermediate education	0.28	0.06	1.35	0.119		0.37	0.09	1.48		0.166
High education	0.59	0.13	2.67	0.499		0.54	0.12	2.54		0.444
Smoking	1.53	0.68	3.47	0.308		0.92	0.39	2.22		0.860

A significant correlation was found between pain chronification and pain catastrophizing for both sexes if NRS. A similar effect of pain catastrophizing on pain chronification between sexes was shown. The odds ratio reported here are per step on the pain catastrophizing scale (4-step scale, 0 = no pain catastrophizing, 0 = reference category)
Education level was self-reported by the patient. Low level of education: primary school, Pre-vocational secondary education, Secondary vocational education level 1 Or completion of the first three years of Senior general secondary education or Pre-university education
Intermediate level of education: graduation on senior general secondary education, pre-university education, secondary vocational education level 2-4
High level of education: Graduation at least university of applied sciences
A chi-squared test was conducted for categorical data. Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test was conducted for numerical, non-normally distributed data
NRS: Numeric Rating Scale, PCS: Pain Catastrophizing Scale, CI: Confidence interval

ISSN: 1471-2253