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Background: Pain catastrophizing is the tendency to perseverate on one's pain and imagine its worst possible outcome. It is suspected of being involved in the maintenance and persistence of chronic pain in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Objectives: This study aimed to determine the frequency of catastrophizing and its associated factors. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of patients with RA over a 3-month period. We collected clinical parameters including disease activity (DAS 28) and Visual Analog Scale for pain (VAS pain). We assessed catastrophizing using the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) questionnaire. The total score was calculated, along with 3 sub-scores corresponding to pain amplification (items 6,7 and 13), rumination (items 8 to 11), and feelings of helplessness (items 1 to 5 and 12). A score of 30 or more represents a high level of pain catastrophizing. Results: A total of 65 patients were included: 60 females and 5 males (sex-ratio M/F: 0.08) with an average age of 54.1 ±12 24-80 years. The mean duration of RA was 12.6 years ± 7.7 6 months-37 years. Rheumatoid factor (RF) was positive in 44 Patients (72.1% of cases). Anti-citrullinated peptide antibody (ACPA) was positive in 47 patients (79.7 %). 54 patients (83.1%) had radiological impairments and 32 (49.2%) had specific RA deformities of RA. The average disease activity score (DAS28-VS) and (DAS28-CRP) were 3.1±1.2 1.1-6.3 and 2.5 ± 1 1 – 5.2 respectively. The average HAQ was 0.7 ± 0.5 0-2. Based on the PCS questionnaire, 27 patients (43.5%) had a high level of catastrophizing (PCS ≥ 30) with a mean PSC of 19.3 ± 12.4 0-44. A significant association was found between the presence of pain catastrophizing and high disease activity (p=0.02), higher HAQ levels (p=0.05), and higher VAS (p=0.04). On the other hand, no association was found between pain catastrophizing and age (p=0,8) nor post-menopausal status (p=0.1). Conclusion: These high PCS scores encourage the systematic removal of catastrophizing in patients with RA to treat this distortion of perception using cognitive-behavioral approaches. REFERENCES: NIL. Acknowledgements: NIL. Disclosure of Interests: None declared.
Brahem et al. (Sat,) studied this question.