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F Leavitt

Publications and source records attributed to F Leavitt.

43 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Demographic and affective covariates of pain.

Relationships of four demographic variables and five affective variables to eight attributes of low back pain were investigated in 251 patients by stepwise, multivariate analysis. The demographic variables are age, sex, race, and education. The affective variables are state anxiety, trait anxiety anxiety, hostility, and depression. Seven of the pain variables are from the factorially derived Low Back Pain Questionnaire. The eighth pain variable is a self-estimate of intensity. Relationships among demographic and pain variables are small and unsystematic. Hostility has a small, systematically inverse relation to pain variables, supporting theories relating low back pain to inhibition of anger. Anxiety has a small positive relationship, and depression has no relationship to pain variables. In general, the small relationships indicate that the Low Back Pain Questionnaire provides descriptions of pain that are not confounded by social characteristics or current emotional states of patients.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Organic status, psychological disturbance, and pain report characteristics in low-back-pain patients on compensation.

The relationship betewwn compensation and three variables--psychologic disturbance, organic status, and pain report characteristics--was assessed. Patients on compensation were clinically similar to patients not on compensation in the relative frequency of cases of psychologic disturbance and nonorganic findings in each group. Patients on compensation differed only when objective evidence of organic disease and psychologic stability was present. Under these circumstances, the compensation group used 43% more words to describe their pain and endorsed more pain qualities on five independent dimensions of pain. These results indicate that compensation primarily affects the description of low-back pain in cases where objective evidence of injury is present and leads to an intensification of sensory discomfort. Little justification was found for the atmosphere of suspicion that surrounds patients on compensation who have no evidence of organic disease.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A comparison of patients treated by chymopapain and laminectomy for low back pain using a multidimensional pain scale.

Seventy-seven patients treated by chymopapain and laminectomy were compared before, and 6 and 14 weeks after, treatment. A standardized, multidimensional scale of low back pain providing scores on 7 independent dimensions of sensory and affective discomfort and one measure of intensity were used. Fourteen weeks after surgery, patients treated by chymopapain were functioning as well as those treated by laminectomy. Major differences, however, characterized the course of recovery. Chymopapain produced rapid change, which was maintained over the 3 1/2-month period. Healing following laminectomy was slower, but the end results were essentially the same. These findings, using sophisticated measurement techniques, support previous research suggesting that chymopapain is an effective alternative to laminectomy in the treatment of lumbar disk disease.

Adult↗