CRVAW Faculty Journal Articles

Disaggregating the Relationship Between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Clusters and Chronic Orofacial Pain: Implications for the Prediction of Health Outcomes with PTSD Symptom Clusters

Abstract

Background

Research has established a significant relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and pain; however, very little research has examined the differential role of PTSD symptom clusters on pain outcomes.

Purpose

(a) To confirm the most appropriate PTSD symptom factor structure for an orofacial pain population and (b) to test a model of prediction of pain outcomes with PTSD symptom clusters.

Methods

The study was a cross-sectional, retrospective case series of 411 female patients with orofacial pain (mean 41.0 years, SD 13.1). A series of structural equation modeling analyses were conducted to examine five competing models of PTSD symptom clusters.

Results

Two four-factor models of PTSD symptom clusters fit the data reasonably well, and differing PTSD symptom clusters predicted different components of pain.

Conclusions

To increase predictive utility for pain and for a wide range of health disorders, researchers should examine the unique predictive power of PTSD symptom clusters rather than examining a one-factor model of PTSD symptoms.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-2011

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12160-010-9221-5

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