title: Depressed Mood Differentially Mediates the Relationship between Pain Intensity and Pain Disability Depending on Pain Duration: A Moderated Mediation Analysis in Chronic Pain Patients.
abstract: Research has shown that pain is associated with disability and that depressed mood mediates the relationship between pain and disability. The question of whether duration of pain moderates these effects was addressed in this cross-sectional study with 356 chronic pain patients. A simple mediation model replicated the notion that depressed mood explains a significant proportion of the relationship between pain and disability (in the study at hand: 12%). A moderated mediation model revealed that the indirect effect of pain on disability through depressed mood is moderated by pain duration: while depressed mood did not mediate the effect of pain on disability in chronic pain patients with shorter pain duration, depressed mood significantly mediated the effect pain exerts on disability in chronic pain patients with longer pain duration. Pain duration did not moderate the direct effect of pain on disability. Implications of these findings for the treatment of chronic pain might be that targeting depressed mood is especially relevant in chronic pain patients with longer pain duration to reduce the effect of pain on disability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany; Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, 58448 Herdecke, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6113-2133
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Probst
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Pain Clinic, Weiden Hospital, 92637 Weiden, Germany.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Neumeier
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Weiden Hospital, 92637 Weiden, Germany.
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Altmeppen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Weiden Hospital, 92637 Weiden, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Angerer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospital Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Loew
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospital Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany; Department for Psychotherapy and Biopsychosocial Health, Danube University Krems, 3500 Krems, Austria.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pieh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D055815:Young Adult