STUDY OF PSYCHIATRIC COMORBIDITY AND QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG PEOPLE SUFFERING FROM CHRONIC PAIN

Abstract

Background- Chronic pain is a debilitating condition associated with stress. It can impair
sufferer’s functioning and quality of life. This study was done to explore psychiatric
comorbidity and quality of life among individuals suffering from chronic pain conditions.
Aims and Objectives- 1. To find out psychiatric comorbidity in individuals suffering from
chronic pain. 2. To assess quality of life of these individuals. 3. To determine the impact of
severity of pain and psychiatric comorbidity on quality of life of such individuals.
Materials and methods- This observational, cross sectional study was conducted in Psychiatry
department of Government medical college and Rajindra hospital. 60 individuals suffering
from chronic pain conditions visiting OPD of department of orthopedics were consecutively
enrolled into study after obtaining their written informed consent. Permission from institutional
ethics committee was obtained before beginning the study. Sociodemographic data was
recorded on sociodemographic proforma-1. MINI International Neuropsychiatric Inventory
was used to screen patients for presence of psychiatric comorbidity. Psychiatric diagnosis was
confirmed by using International Classification of Diseases 10th editions for mental health and
behavioral disorders (ICD-10). Mc Gill Pain questionnaire was used to determine severity of
pain. Short Form-36 was used to assess quality of life. Impact of severity of pain and psychiatric
comorbidity on quality of life was studied using ANOVA. Data was statistically analyzed on
SPSS.