Quality of Life in Chronic Low Back Pain: A Comparison with Fibromyalgia and the General Population

Abstract

Objectives: The major aim of this study was to investigate the quality of life [QOL] in a group of patients with chronic low back pain [CLBP] who were surgical candidates and to compare their QOL to patients with fibromyalgia [FMS] as well as to that of adults in the general population [GP]. A secondary aim was to determine whether any demographic, symptom, or psychological factors correlated with QOL.

Methods: One hundred patients with CLBP selected for surgery, 99 patients with FMS and 268 randomly selected adults from the Swedish GP completed a questionnaire that included a nonhealth focused quality of life scale–the Quality of Life Scale-Swedish version [QOLS-S]. The GP group was separated into two subgroups–those with low back pain [LBP] and those without LBP.

Results: The CLBP surgical candidates, FMS patients, and the GP subgroup with LBP had significantly lower quality of life than the GP subgroup without LBP. Differences between the three pain groups were not significant. The scores of the three pain groups deviated more from those of the GP subgroup without LBP on the QOLS-S physical health and activity items than they did on the items measuring family relationships or social activities. Of all the available predictive variables, only depression showed significant association with QOL.

Conclusion: Persons with LBP, whether surgical candidates or in the GP suffer decreases in their QOL that are similar to FMS patients. Severity of depressive symptoms is most predictive of QOL.

KEYWORDS:

• Chronic low back pain
• fibromyalgia
• quality of life
• depression