Central Sensitization and Chronic Pain Personality Profile: Is There New Evidence? A Case-Control Study

Marina Lopez-Ruiz, Andrea Doreste Soler, Jesus Pujol, Josep-Maria Losilla, Fabiola Ojeda, Laura Blanco-Hinojo, Gerard Martínez-Vilavella, Teresa Gutiérrez-Rosado, Jordi Monfort and Joan Deus ()
Additional contact information
Marina Lopez-Ruiz: HM Hospital Sant Jordi, 08030 Barcelona, Spain
Andrea Doreste Soler: MRI Research Unit, Department of Radiology, Hospital del Mar, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Jesus Pujol: MRI Research Unit, Department of Radiology, Hospital del Mar, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Josep-Maria Losilla: Department of Methodology, Faculty of Psychology, Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Barcelona, Spain
Fabiola Ojeda: Rheumatology Service, Hospital del Mar, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Laura Blanco-Hinojo: MRI Research Unit, Department of Radiology, Hospital del Mar, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Gerard Martínez-Vilavella: MRI Research Unit, Department of Radiology, Hospital del Mar, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Teresa Gutiérrez-Rosado: Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain
Jordi Monfort: Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, CIBERSAM G21, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Joan Deus: MRI Research Unit, Department of Radiology, Hospital del Mar, 08003 Barcelona, Spain

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: Background: Personality traits are relevant for pain perception in persistent pain disorders, although they have not been studied in depth in sensitized and nonsensitized patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Objective: To explain and compare the personality profile of patients with OA, with and without central sensitization (CS), and fibromyalgia (FM). Setting: Participants were selected at the Rheumatology Department in two major hospitals in Spain. Participants: Case-control study where the sample consists of 15 patients with OA and CS (OA-CS), 31 OA without CS (OA-noCS), 47 FM, and 22 controls. We used a rigorous and systematic process that ensured the sample strictly fulfilled all the inclusion/exclusion criteria, so the sample is very well delimited. Primary outcome measures: Personality was assessed by the Temperament and Character Inventory of Cloninger. Results: The percentile in harm-avoidance dimension for the FM group is higher compared to OA groups and controls. The most frequent temperamental profiles in patients are cautious, methodical, and explosive. Patients with FM are more likely to report larger scores in harm-avoidance, with an increase in logistic regression adjusted odds ratio (OR adj ) between 4.2% and 70.2%. Conclusions: Harm-avoidance seems to be the most important dimension in personality patients with chronic pain, as previously found. We found no differences between OA groups and between sensitized groups, but there are differences between FM and OA-noCS, so harm-avoidance might be the key to describe personality in patients with CS rather than the presence of prolonged pain, as found in the literature before.

Keywords: osteoarthritis; fibromyalgia; central sensitization; personality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/2935/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/2935/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:4:p:2935-:d:1061197

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().