Catastrophizing, Depression and Anxiety During Pregnancy: Relation Between Lumbopelvic Pain and Physical/Social Functioning

Catastrophizing, a cognitive behavioral aspect of pain, is defined as an excessively negative orientation against a noxious stimulus. The primary goal of the present study is to assess the association between catastrophizing and lumbopelvic pain intensity during the pregnancy period, the secondary goal is to explore the variation of pain catastrophizing, anxiety and depression, and the tertiary goal is to investigate the relationship between catastrophizing and quality of life. After approval, pregnant women with lumbopelvic pain were invited to join in the study. During admission, participants were asked to complete questionnaires including Pain Catastrophizing Scale, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and Short Form-36. Age, gravida, parity, number of abortus, number of live-births and the pain intensity score were recorded. A total of 429 women were enrolled in the study. Pain catastrophizing scores showed a fluctuation during pregnancy, and were significantly correlated with the scores of Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, Visual Analog Scale, and Short Form-36 sub-scales including social functioning, vitality, physical functioning and mental health. The present study demonstrated that catastrophizing level shows an alteration throughout the pregnancy period, and variation in catastrophizing shows an approximately similar course with pain intensity, depression and anxiety.