title: Relationship between psychopathology and graduated spinal block findings in chronic pain patients.
abstract: The current study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between response to a graduated spinal block and the presence of psychopathology. Subjects consisted of 25 chronic pain patients who had received a graduated spinal block as part of their evaluation. Each was categorized along two dimensions by independent raters based on blind review of hospital records. Dimensions were (1) response to graduated spinal block (appropriate or inappropriate) and (2) presence of clinically significant psychopathology (definitive, probable or none). Results showed that subjects were well distributed across the two dimensions. A 2 X 3 chi-square comparison failed to show a significant relationship between the two dimensions. However, females and subjects with spontaneous pain onset were found to exhibit significantly more inappropriate responses to spinal blockage. It was concluded that there was no consistent relationship between the presence of psychopathology and response to the graduated spinal block.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000775:Anesthesia, Spinal / Q000379:methods*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors