Table 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics as well as behavioral data of chronic back pain patients (CBP) and healthy controls (HC).
| CBP | HC | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sex | |||||
| Male/Female | 2/11 | 2/11 | |||
| Age (in years) | 44.31 ± 12.15 | 46.46 ± 10.19 | |||
| Range | 23–56 | 24–58 | |||
| Pain history | |||||
| 6–12 months | N = 2 | N = 0 | |||
| 2–5 years | N = 4 | N = 0 | |||
| >5 years | N = 7 | N = 0 | |||
| Pain intensity | t | df | p | ||
| Mean pain intensity (VAS a recent 4 weeks) | 3.31 ± 1.83 | 0.09 ± 0.30 | 5.72 | 10.53 | <0.001 |
| Strongest pain (VAS recent 4 weeks) | 5.14 ± 1.85 | 0.27 ± 0.90 | 6.27 | 12.76 | <0.001 |
| Current pain (VAS post scanning) | 1.72 ± 1.34 | 0.05 ± 0.15 | 4.15 | 10.25 | 0.002 |
| BDIbscore | 7.77 ± 5.13 | 2.62 ± 1.76 | 3.50 | 12.12 | 0.004 |
| Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) | 14.08 ± 6.11 | 11.82 ± 7.04 | 0.61 | 24 | 0.550 |
| Rumination | 5.46 ± 3.46 | 5.09 ± 3.27 | 0.12 | 24 | 0.905 |
| Helplessness | 4.85 ± 3.11 | 4.00 ± 2.61 | 0.49 | 24 | 0.632 |
| Magnification | 3.77 ± 2.32 | 2.73 ± 2.19 | 0.98 | 24 | 0.351 |
| Task difficultyc | 1.38 ± 1.50 | 1.38 ± 1.50 | 0 | 24 | 1 |
| χ2 | |||||
| Correct word categorizationd | 15.66 ± 0.79 | 15.45 ± 1.65 | 0.04 | 1 | 0.865 |
Note: Values are mean ± SD; a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS): 0 = ‘‘no pain’’, 10 = ‘‘strongest pain imaginable”; b BDI = Beck Depression Inventory; c Visual Analogue Scale (VAS): 0 = “very easy”, 10 = “very difficult”; d correct categorizations out of 16 judgments.