This is a longitudinal study of 284 patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP). [1] It aimed to assess the effectiveness of the usual multidisciplinary approach and the impact of anxiety and depression symptoms and their interaction on clinical outcomes. The majority of patients had both anxiety and depression and experienced higher pain severity (P < 0.001) and higher pain-related disability (P < 0.001). Anxiety and depression mainly predicted changes in pain interference over time. Their interaction significantly predicted changes in pain interference.
The authors conclude that the findings encourage the pre-treatment screening of anxiety and depression as independent symptoms in patients with CLBP in order to design more tailored and effective multidisciplinary treatments.
1 Oliveira DS, Mendonça LVF, Sampaio RSM, et al. The impact of anxiety and depression on the outcomes of chronic low back pain multidisciplinary pain management-a multicenter prospective cohort study in pain clinics with one-year follow-up. Pain Med (United States) 2019;20:736–46. doi:10.1093/pm/pny128
