Correlation of Physical and Mental Components of Health-Related Quality of Life, Function and Pain in Patients with Chronic Nonspecific Low Back Pain
Acta Clin Croat. 2025 Jun;64(2):251-260. doi: 10.20471/acc.2025.64.02.09.
ABSTRACT
Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is significantly reduced in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain. In these patients, the relationship between physical and mental health with quality of life has not been adequately studied, nor has the relationship between functional disability and pain intensity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the physical and mental components of HRQoL and their association with pain intensity and functional disability in patients with better and worse physical and mental health. In addition to sociodemographic and baseline data, disease-specific measures were obtained using standard questionnaires, i.e., the visual analog scale for pain, the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire for functional capacity in patients with chronic low back pain, and the Brief Health-Related Quality of Life Questionnaire (SF-36). Statistical significance was determined at p<0.05.
The study involved 129 consecutive patients (33 men and 96 women) with chronic low back pain. A significant positive association was found between overall HRQoL, height, and body weight in relation to physical and mental health, but not with body weight in relation to physical health. A negative association was found with age, intensity of movement pain, and functional disability in relation to physical and mental health. An improvement in mental health was found compared to an increase in physical health. Better physical and mental health scores were associated with lower levels of functional disability. In conclusion, the results of this real-life study demonstrated the importance of improving the physical components of HRQoL as it affects assessment of the mental component in patients with chronic low back pain. Moreover, patients with better quality of life rated functional disability lower.
PMID:41635662 | PMC:PMC12863285 | DOI:10.20471/acc.2025.64.02.09