Method: 40 patients (31.59±8.30 years) presenting for treatment at the Orofacial Pain Clinic of the Bauru School of Dentistry - USP, with a diagnosis of myofascial pain according to the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD, which pain lasting longer than 6 months, participated of this study. The present pain intensity (VAS) was recorded with visual analog scale (VAS). At the first appointment data about age, anxiety (HADSa) and depression symptoms(HADSd) (The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale - HADS) and pain-related catastrophizing (The Catastrophizing Thoughts Scale - TCTS) were collected. Pearson correlation and multivariate regression analysis were used to determine the relationship among age, depression and anxiety symptoms, catastrophizing thoughts on pain intensity.
Result: The mean VAS was 6.38±2.02. The mean scores of data were: 8.02±4.08 for HADSa, 5.51±3.31 for HADSd and 2.23±1.37 for TCTS. A positive and significative correlation were found only between VAS and TCTS score [r=0.445; p=0.005, IC95% (0.155-0.644)]. The multivariate logistic retrospective model found that the VAS score were significantly predicted by TCTS, HADSa and HADSd scores (p=0.01).
Conclusion: Anxiety, depression symptoms and catastrophizing thoughts predicted and have a negative effect in pain perceived by masticatory myofascial pain patients. These findings are consistent with a biopsychosocial conceptualization of pain in individuals with chronic TMD pain and suggested that assessment and treatment (when indicated) of catastrophizing should be a regular part of the clinical management of these patients.