Journal of psychosomatic research
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Development of chronic pain following severe accidental injury. Results of a 3-year follow-up study.
Motor vehicle accidents (MVA) and work-related injuries are two of the more common causes of chronic pain. Nevertheless, there is little evidence on predicting factors regarding the development of chronic pain following physical injury. ⋯ The prevalence of chronic pain in severely injured patients 3 years after the accident is considerably high. The development of chronic pain is more related to psychological factors, particularly PTSD symptoms, in the aftermath of the accident, as compared to sociodemographic and accident-related variables at the time of the accident. These findings may be helpful to elucidate the problems in predicting chronic pain conditions in injured subjects and to recognize the onset of a chronic pain condition more reliably.