Health care system utilization for chronic facial pain

Because physician utilization is only partly related to physical health status, it was hypothesized that high utilization associated with chronic pain should correlate with other nonpain factors. One hundred consecutive patients were given a battery of tests and rated by clinicians for the severity of psychological factors, stress, and chronicity. The patients were divided into high- and low-utilization groups on the basis of their scores on the Health Care Utilization Index. The high-utilization patients were found to be more focused on bodily symptoms and to be more convinced that they had a physical illness. This contrasted with the clinicians' opinion that the high-utilization patients had higher levels of psychological factors and stress.