The Role of Resilience Among Women with Chronic Pelvic Pain

Abstract

<h3>Study Objective</h3> In other chronic pain syndromes resilience has correlated with reduced disease severity and better overall function among chronic pain patients. Our objective was to investigate the impact of resilience on the number of missed days of work, days spent in bed and quality of life for women with chronic pelvic pain. <h3>Design</h3> Retrospective cross-sectional study of new patients presenting to tertiary care chronic pelvic pain consultative clinic. <h3>Setting</h3> A tertiary care teaching hospital. <h3>Patients or Participants</h3> Consecutive new patients (n=1143) at a tertiary care, outpatient chronic pelvic pain clinic between 2019 and 2021. <h3>Interventions</h3> All patients completed validated self-report measures of resilience, physical function, social role satisfaction, pain interference, pain severity, average pain rating, purpose and meaning before their first appointment. <h3>Measurements and Main Results</h3> Patient population was self-reported 78% white, 8.75% Black/African American, 3.14% Asian, and 0.87% Native American/Alaskan Native. Twenty eight percent were married, 31% single, 1.8% divorced, 2.9% partnered. The average age was 35.6 y.o. (SD, 9.8), average pain days per month was 19.0 (SD,9.6), average Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) severity was 19.6 (SD, 8.9) and average BPI interference 33.43 (SD, 20.6). In a multivariate linear regression model controlling for age and average reported pain, a higher degree of resilience was positively correlated with Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) physical function (Beta 0.205; p<.001), PROMIS social role satisfaction (Beta 0.223; p<.001) and PROMIS purpose and meaning (Beta 0.610; p<.001). However, resilience was negatively correlated with missed days of work (Beta -0.141; p<.001) and days spent in bed (Beta -0.183;p<.001). <h3>Conclusion</h3> Resilience appears to have a protective effect on patients' physical function, satisfaction and feeling of purpose, and engagement in work, irrespective of the severity of their pelvic pain. This offers a novel target for future research to investigate the effect of interventions to modify resilience would impact patient quality of life.