The relationship between pain, life quality, depression, anxiety and sleep pattern in patients with chronic low pain

Chronic low back pain is a disease that affects people's quality of life and may be difficult to treat and manage. In the literature it has been reported that chronic low back pain is the mostly seen among musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). Different symptoms may be observed in patients with low back pain, depending on the cause. Posture disorders, muscle weakness, feet burning, and tingling are some of the examples of these symptoms. Psychological disorders such as a decline in the quality of life, disability, depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders may be associated with pain in these patients. The purpose of our study was to determine the relationship between quality of life, depression, anxiety and sleep patterns between patients with chronic low back pain and healty individuals. We included 73 patients who were admitted to the outpatient clinic of Department Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Baskent University Faculty of Medicine with chronic low back pain for more than 6 months. The control group included 73 healthy individuals. The age range of the participants were between 18-65 years. Short form McGill Pain Scale, Roland Morris Disability, Short Form-36, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Questionnaires were applied to the patients with chronic low back pain. On the other hand only Short Form-36, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Questionnaires were applied the control group. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of age and gender (p = 0.904, p = 1,000 respectively). We found a statistically significant difference in the physical function, physical role, emotional role, social functioning, pain and general health perception scores of the six sub-groups of Short Form-36 in the patient group compared to the control group pain based on the (p <0.001, p <0.001, p <0.001, p = 0.021, p = 0.006, p <0.001, respectively). There was no statistically significant difference between the scores of the two groups in terms of energy/vitality and mental health (p = 0.218, p = 0.444, respectively). There was no statistically significant difference in terms of depression scores and depression levels between the two groups (p> 0.05). Also there was no statistically significant difference in anxiety scores and anxiety levels between the two groups (p> 0.05). According to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; we couldn't find a stastically significant difference in terms of sleep scores and sleep levels between patients with chronic low back pain and the control group (p> 0.05). As a result, we found that chronic low back pain effects quality of life of patients in a negative way. In this respect, we conclude that a comprehensive approach should be implemented to efficiently treat a patient with chronic low back pain. Keywords: chronic low back pain, depression, anxiety, quality of life, sleep patterns