Association between psychosocial factors and occurrence of neck pain

Abstract

Introduction: According to information from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, approximately 27 million Brazilians over 18 years old are dependent on musculoskeletal pain. The cumulative incidence of first episodes of neck pain is already high
in early adulthood, and symptoms tend to persist over time. Pain is multifactorial and may be associated with fear of performing the movement, in addition to anxiety, depression and social isolation, becoming a moment for introducing interventions that are not focused only on mechanical aspects. Objective: The present study aimed to investigate, through two interactions, the association between psychosocial factors and the occurrence of neck pain. Methods: It was used a longitudinal observational design, following 396 participants over a year. Results: The sample consisted of 396 individuals, with a mean age of 27.4 (SD = 8.89) years, 71.6% of whom were women. Psychosocial factors were scored from 0 to 10 through a psychosocial assessment and obtained the following average results: anxiety 6.6 (SD = 2.7), social isolation 2.4 (SD = 2.7), depression 4 (SD = 3.2) and stress 5.7 (SD = 2). The complaint of neck pain was reported by 21.4% (n = 125) of the participants. Of the volunteers who did not have neck pain at baseline, 396 were followed up after one year, where 10.1% (n = 40) reported having neck pain. Manifestations were observed between the occurrence of neck pain and anxiety [OR] = 1.18; 95%CI 1.03 – 1.36), depression (p = 0.04) (OR = 1.11; 95%CI 1.00 – 1.23) and stress (p = 0.05)
(OR = 1. 19; 95%CI 1.06 – 1.35). Conclusion: The present study treated that there is an association between the psychosocial factors anxiety, depression and stress and the occurrence of neck pain.