Pain catastrophizing predicts poor response to topical analgesics in patients with neuropathic pain.

Background: Previous research suggests that high levels of pain catastrophizing might predict poorer response to pharmacological interventions for neuropathic pain.

Objective: The present study sought to examine the clinical relevance of the relation between catastrophizing and analgesic response in individuals with neuropathic pain. Clinically meaningful reductions were defined in terms of the magnitude of reductions in pain through the course of treatment, and in terms of the number of patients whose end-of-treatment pain ratings were below 4⁄10.