Pain catastrophising affects the relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and chronic pain, according to a new study.

To investigate whether catastrophising might affect the relationship between pain and PTSD, the authors looked at more than 200 patients starting an interdisciplinary pain-rehabilitation program who reported various forms of trauma exposure.

At program admission, all patients had completed a battery of validated measures of pain severity, pain interference, pain catastrophising, depressive symptoms and PTSD symptoms.

The authors found that catastrophising mediated the association between PTSD symptoms and pain severity and pain interference.