Evaluation, narcotics and behavioral treatment influences on pain ratings in chronic pain patients

Changes in self-reported pain ratings were assessed in 95 chronic pain patients from data collected at three times: pretreatment evaluation, initial days of treatment and final days of treatment. These data were collected separately for regular, sporadic and nonusers of narcotic medication. Each patient completed a four-week interdisciplinary behaviorally based noninvasive treatment program. There was an average decrease of 7% in self-reported pain ratings between evaluation and the onset of treatment for the three groups. An additional decrease of 21%, 16% and 10% for the sporadic, nonusers and regular users of narcotics respectively was noted during treatment. Statistical analysis revealed a significant decrease in pain ratings across assessment phases but not between groups. Sporadic users of narcotics showed a pattern more similar to nonusers than to the regular users.