Poster Session 03 Program Schedule
02/15/2024
09:30 am - 10:40 am
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)
Poster Session 03: Neurotrauma | Neurovascular
Final Abstract #19
Traumatic Brain Injury Influence On Pain And Mood In People With Chronic Low Back Pain
Emily Dudek, University of Houston, Houston, United States
Michael Williams, University of Houston, Houston, United States
Andrew Rogers, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
Michael Zvolensky, University of Houston, Houston, United States
Category: Acquired Brain Injury (TBI/Cerebrovascular Injury and Disease - Adult)
Keyword 1: chronic pain
Keyword 2: traumatic brain injury
Keyword 3: emotional processes
Objective:
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a significant neurological injury that occurs in more than 69 million people worldwide annually. Recent studies have demonstrated the diverse and longstanding consequences of TBI. Pain is the most common symptom following TBI and requires further study. This current study examined the influence of TBI history on pain experience and emotional symptoms among a sample of people with chronic low back pain (CLBP).
Participants and Methods:
There were 1,823 adults who completed the institutional review board approved online survey via Qualtrics. Of which, 428 had a history of TBI determined by The Brief Traumatic Brain Injury Screen modified to include non-military etiology. Participants also completed surveys of sociodemographic information, pain intensity, pain interference, pain-related anxiety, general anxiety, and depression. T-tests and χ2 were used to examine differences among sample demographic characteristics by TBI history. One-way Analysis of Covariances were used to examine differences on pain intensity, pain interference, pain-related anxiety, anxiety, and depression while considering relevant sociodemographic covariates.
Results:
There were no significant differences in age and education level. The average age was 44 years. About 73% of the sample had some college or higher educational level. Sex and race/ethnicity proportions were significantly different between people with and without TBI history. There was a greater proportion of males in the TBI sample than the No TBI sample. However, females comprised the majority of both groups. While the distributions across ethnoracial groups changed, most differences were in very low proportion ethnoracial groups precluding ethnoracial grouping as a covariate in the main analyses. Examination of group differences in the outcome variables suggested that compared to participants without TBI history, participants who reported TBI history had significantly higher pain intensity (p = .001), pain interference (p = .007), pain-related anxiety (p < .001), general anxiety (p < .001), and depression (p < .001). Although significant these effects were of small magnitude.
Conclusions:
The findings suggest that history of TBI is linked with worse pain and emotional outcomes for people with chronic low back pain. This study suggests an ongoing need to understand the mechanisms by which TBI manifests as a chronic condition and how to manage its unique sequelae with comorbid conditions. Future research should investigate TBI severity and time since injury characteristics as potential influential factors in understanding TBI impact on CLBP outcomes, particularly pain interference and emotional distress.
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