Work incapacity and chronic pain patients: Is there an impact of work incapacity on anxiety and depression?

In 2011, a report of the Federal Public Service have shown that 8.5% of the Belgian population suffers from chronic pains, which represents 938 300 belgian people (Berquin et al., 2011). These persistent pains may result in functional limitations on both domestic and professional domains which may lead to temporary or permanently work incapacity (Faymonville et al., 2014). These incapacities may in turn cause a social withdrawal and a tendency to focus on pain (Berquin et al., 2011). Additionally, patients are prone to emotional modifications due to persistent pain (Ossipov et al., 2010). All of these factors may contribute in the emergence of anxiety and depressive symptoms. The present study examines the impact of type of work incapacities (at work, temporary incapacity and permanent incapacity) on anxiety and depression scores as a function of diagnoses (fibromyalgia, chronic pain syndrome, back pain, polyalgia). 123 patients suffering from chronic pain completed a measure of anxiety and depression (HADS), and a self-reported questionnaire of psychological and physical disability at work. We did not found any significant effect of type of work incapacities on anxiety and depression scores. Results present tables of frequencies to illustrate the social and professional situations of patients as a function of chronic pain diagnoses.