Catastrophizing moderates the relationship between pain severity and depressive symptomatology among women with endometriosis

ABSTRACT

The link between pain severity, depressive symptomatology and catastrophizing among women with endometriosis is still under-investigated. The aim of this study was to (i) evaluate differences in depressive symptomatology between women with and without endometriosis; (ii) investigate if pain severity is associated with depressive symptoms; and (iii) test if catastrophizing moderates the link between these two variables. A total of 172 women with a diagnosis of endometriosis and 62 healthy controls volunteered for this cross-sectional study. Depressive symptomatology, pain severity, and catastrophizing were assessed.

Compared to healthy controls, women with endometriosis were more likely to score above the cutoff for depressive symptomatology, with 60.5% of the latter being classified as having a subthreshold depression or minor depression and 15.7% as having moderate or severe major depression. Pain severity was significantly associated with depressive symptoms even after controlling for several covariates. Finally, the moderation model suggested that among patients with endometriosis, the relationship between pain severity and depressive symptomatology depended on the level of catastrophizing, with this association being stronger for high levels of the moderator.

Mental health practitioners working with women with endometriosis may consider those who report high levels of pain severity and of catastrophizing at high risk of depression and are advised to promote adaptive coping strategies among patients to foster a better adaptation to this chronic disease

KEYWORDS:

• Pain
• endometriosis
• catastrophizing
• depression
• coping

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and material

Data will be available upon request to the first author.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

The study was accepted by the Ethical Committee of Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital in Bergamo (number 1228 on 13/07/2017).

Authors contribution

Cristina Zarbo: Protocol/project development, Data collection or management, Dataanalysis, Manuscript writing/editing

Agostino Brugnera: Protocol/project development, Data management, Data analysisManuscript writing/editing

Luigi Frigerio: Protocol/project development, Data management, Manuscriptwriting/editing

Adriano Bellia: Data collection, Manuscript writing/editing

Enrico Betto: Data collection, Manuscript writing/editing

Ilario Candeloro: Data collection, Manuscript writing/editing

Chiara Malandrino: Data collection, Manuscript writing/editing

Rita Secomandi: Data collection, Manuscript writing/editing

Angelo Compare: Protocol/project development, Data management, Manuscriptwriting/editing

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.