A comparative study of pain description, emotional discomfort and health perception in patients with chronic pain syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis.

The purpose of the present study was to compare pain description and emotional and psychosomatic discomfort in patients with chronic pain syndrome (CPS) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in order to identify special characteristic features in patients with CPS. Methods used were a Visual Analogue Scale, the McGill Pain Questionnaire, a new pain, ache and hurt assessment tool and a questionnaire related to causes of pain, health perception and experienced emotional and psychosomatic discomfort. The patients with CPS perceived themselves as being less healthy than patients with RA. While the sensory quality of pain was similar in both groups, the emotional component was stronger in patients with CPS. They experienced more emotional and psychosomatic discomfort compared to patients with RA. They believed that factors associated with their work had caused the pain. The result indicates that assessment of ache by patients with CPS on the Visual Analogue Scale reflects the affective dimension of the experience.