Association of Gender, Painkiller Use, and Experienced Pain with Pain-Related Fear and Anxiety among University Students According to the Fear of Pain Questionnaire-9.

Paweł Piwowarczyk,Urszula Myśliwiec,Mirosław Czuczwar,Joanna Chajec,Aleksandra Hap,Michał Borys,Paweł Kutnik,Agnieszka Kaczmarska

doi:10.3390/ijerph18084098

Paweł Piwowarczyk, Urszula Myśliwiec + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18084098

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Abstract

Anxiety and fear are determinants of acute and chronic pain. Effectively measuring fear associated with pain is critical for identifying individuals’ vulnerable to pain. This study aimed to assess fear of pain among students and evaluate factors associated with pain-related fear. We used the Fear of Pain Questionnaire-9 to measure this fear. We searched for factors associated with fear of pain: gender, size of the city where the subjects lived, subject of academic study, year of study, the greatest extent of experienced pain, frequency of painkiller use, presence of chronic or mental illness, and past hospitalization. We enrolled 717 participants. Median fear of minor pain was 5 (4–7) fear of medical pain 7 (5–9), fear of severe pain 10 (8–12), and overall fear of pain 22 (19–26). Fear of pain was associated with gender, frequency of painkiller use, and previously experienced pain intensity. We found a correlation between the greatest pain the participant can remember and fear of minor pain (r = 0.112), fear of medical pain (r = 0.116), and overall fear of pain (r = 0.133). Participants studying medicine had the lowest fear of minor pain while stomatology students had the lowest fear of medical pain. As students advanced in their studies, their fear of medical pain lowered. Addressing fear of pain according to sex of the patient, frequency of painkiller use, and greatest extent of experienced pain could ameliorate medical training and improve the quality of pain management in patients.

Highlights

Pain is a prevalent, debilitating condition that has enormous health and economic consequences [1]
According to the presented rationale, this study aimed to establish the extent of fear of pain among medical university students according to the Fear of Pain Questionnaire-9 and evaluate factors associated with pain-related fear and anxiety
The secondary goal of the study was to evaluate factors that could be associated with pain-related fear and anxiety: gender, size of the city where the subjects lived, subject of academic study, year of study, the greatest extent of experienced pain, frequency of painkiller use, presence of chronic or mental illness, and past hospitalization

Summary

Introduction

Pain is a prevalent, debilitating condition that has enormous health and economic consequences [1]. The prevalence of pain in primary care settings is estimated to be 30% of patients, and approximately 116 million Americans suffer from chronic pain conditions [1,2]. Anxiety and fear have been recognized as influential moderators and determinants of the perception of both acute and chronic pain [3,4,5,6,7]. 20% of the adult European population has chronic pain. The financial cost to society is estimated at more than 200 billion euros in Europe and 150 billion dollars in the USA annually [8,9]. The prevalence of chronic pain in the UK ranges from 35.0% to

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