The Symptom Checklist-90 Revised questionnaire: no psychological profiles in complex regional pain syndrome-dystonia

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a syndrome usually localized in the extremities, mostly occurring after a preceding trauma or operation. Dystonia is present in a minority of CRPS patients, but, when present, leads to severe disability. Various pathological factors have been postulated to present in CRPS-dystonia, such as involvement of the sympathetic system, reorganization of the central nervous system, and psychological distress. In the present study, we investigated the involvement of psychological distress in CRPS-dystonia with the aid of the Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90R) questionnaire. The SCL-90R is a multidimensional self-report inventory covering various dimensions of psychological distress. In a population of 1006 CRPS patients, we analyzed the SCL-90R scores of 27 patients with CRPS-dystonia (23 female and 4 male) and compared the scores to sample scores of a control female (n = 577) and a control rehabilitation population (n = 56). Insomnia scored significantly higher in the female CRPS-dystonia population, as compared to the control female population (P < 0.001), and in the total CRPS-dystonia population, as compared to the rehabilitation population (P < 0.01). Remarkable was the significantly higher score of somatization in the rehabilitation population, as compared to the CRPS-dystonia population (P = 0.006). For the other dimensions of psychological distress of the SCL-90R, the scores of the CRPS-dystonia and control populations were similar. With regard to the SCL-90R scores, we conclude that specific psychological profiles are not present in CRPS-dystonia.