Can Brief Illness Perception Predict Pain Related Outcomes for People with Chronic Low Back Pain?

Introduction: Treating patients with complex chronic non-malignant pain can be complicated by
psychological and/or social factors. A vital importance for recovery is how the patient copes with pain
and the emotional suffering that accompanies it. Patients´ Illness Perception (IP) and expectations
towards the treatment has proven to play an important role for the treatment response. We aimed to
identify changes in patients´ IP from admission to discharge for patients with Chronic Low Back Pain
(CLBP) admitted to a large Interdisciplinary Pain Center (IPC) in Denmark. Additionally, to examine if IP
can affect the following items: pain catastrophizing, pain during movement, quality of life, and patient
satisfaction.
Methods: The questionnaires used were all a part of the Danish Clinical Pain Registry (PAINDATA).
The study is reported on ClinicalTrials.gov (REG-1303-2022). The participants all suffered from CLBP.
The enrollment took place from 12. June 2020 to 3. April 2022.
Results: A total of 80 patients were included in the study. Changes in the Brief Illness Perception
Questionnaire (BIPQ) from admission to discharge were significant p=0.007. Seventy-two patients had
a low degree of IP at admission and 65 patients at discharge. Significant changes were detected from
admission to discharge for the following supplemental items: fear avoidance (p=0.002), Quality of Life
(p=0.001), and pain catastrophizing (p=0.002). Furthermore, 83% of the included patients were satisfied or very satisfied with the treatment provided by the IPC at discharge.
Conclusion: IP affect patient reported outcomes. Therefore, it is important to target IP in the IPCs
when patients are admitted. The BIPQ seems to be a useful tool for that purpose.