The Relationship between Anxiety and Chronic Pain: A Cross- sectional Study from Yazd, Iran

Background: Chronic pain depends on many physical and psychological factors. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between anxiety and chronic pain in adult referring to health centers in Yazd, Iran. Methods and Materials: This descriptive study conducted on 397 adults aged between 31 and 87years. The Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) was used to measure depression, anxiety and stress. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used to measure pain severity. Six psychologists were employed to collect data. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 21.Results: Totally 397 individuals with mean age of 61.52 ± 11.52completed the study. The results showed 74% of participants (N = 295) were suffering from chronic pain. The majority of participants (N = 164, 41.3%) complained from knee pain. This study showed 68.8% of studied adult (N = 277) suffered from mild to severe anxiety. There were positive significant relationship between chronic pain and anxiety.Conclusion: This study concluded that chronic pain may cause psychological disorders as anxiety. This study recommended that individuals suffering from chronic pain should be assessed in terms ofpsychological problems.

Keywords:

Chronic Pain , Anxiety , Adult , Iran