Even mild catastrophic thinking is related to pain intensity in individuals with painful temporomandibular disorders.

Aims: Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are often associated with psychological comorbidities. One such comorbidity is pain catastrophising, that is, exaggeration of negative consequences of a painful event. The aim was to investigate catastrophising in individuals with painful TMD compared to controls and the association between catastrophising and pain intensity, number of pain sites and functional limitations.

Methods: A community-based sample of 110 individuals (83 women; 20-69 yrs) with painful TMDs (myalgia/arthralgia as per Diagnostic Criteria for TMD) and 190 age- and gender-matched controls (119 women; 20-69 yrs) from the Public Dental services in Västerbotten, Sweden, participated. Associations between catastrophising and functional jaw limitations, respectively, and painful TMD were evaluated with ordinal regression adjusted for the effect of gender and age. Associations (Spearman's correlation) of the Pain catastrophising Scale (PCS) with Jaw Functional Limitation Scale (JFLS-20), pain site number (whole-body pain map), and characteristic pain intensity (CPI) and intergroup comparisons (Mann-Whitney U test) of these variables were also calculated.

Results: Levels of catastrophising were associated with TMD pain (OR 1.6, 95%CI 1.1-2.6). Among individuals with painful TMD, catastrophising was correlated to pain intensity (r=0.458, p<0.01) and functional limitations (r=0.294-0.321, p≤0.002), but not to number of pain sites.

Conclusion: Compared to controls, community-based individuals with painful TMD demonstrated higher levels of pain catastrophising, and this catastrophising was associated with increased pain intensity and jaw dysfunction. The relatively low scores of pain catastrophising suggest that even mild catastrophic thinking is associated with pain perception and jaw function, and should be considered in patient management.