Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal stress axis function and the relationship with chronic widespread pain and its antecedents

Table 1 Distribution of age, gender and scale score by pain group

	Controls (N = 50)		At risk (N = 251)		p-value^a	CWP (N = 124)		p-value^b
	n	%	n	%		n	%
Age group
25–43	16	32	91	36		40	30
44–54	18	36	78	31		46	37
55–65	16	32	82	33	0.85	38	33	0.78
Gender
Female	30	60	165	66	0.44	74	60	0.97
	Median	IQR	Median	IQR		Median	IQR
Sleep	3	0–5	6	3–11	0.00	9	5–13	0.00
GHQ	0	1–1.5	1	0–5	0.00	1	0–5	0.00
Somatic symptoms	0	0-0	1	1–2	0.00	1	0–2	0.00
Health anxiety	8	4–11	11	6–15	0.00	9	6–15	0.03
Illness behaviour	2	1–4	6	5–9	0.00	6	4–10	0.00
HAD: anxiety	4	2–7	6	4–9	0.00	7	4–10	0.00
HAD: depression	1	1–4	3	1–6	0.00	5	2–7	0.00
Life events	0	0–1	1	0–2	0.01	1	0–2	0.00

^aAt risk compared to controls. ^bCWP compared to controls. All p-values were by Mann-Whitney U test except those for sex, which were by chi-square test. CWP, chronic widespread pain; GHQ, General Health Questionnaire; HAD, Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale; IQR, inter-quartile range.

ISSN: 1478-6362