Chronic pain and COVID-19: The association of delay discounting with perceived stress and pain severity.

Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, Vol 30(5), Oct 2022, 692-700; doi:10.1037/pha0000479The coronavirus disease pandemic of 2019 (COVID-19) is a worldwide threat to public health that has significantly affected the United States. The pandemic poses a variety of health risks including stressful disruptions in social and economic activity. Understanding the pandemic’s effects on already vulnerable populations, such as individuals with chronic pain, may inform healthcare preparation for future catastrophic events. Given the association between excessive discounting of delayed rewards and chronic pain, this study examined relationships between delay discounting, pain severity, and COVID-19 perceived stress in individuals with chronic pain. Individuals reporting chronic pain (N = 180; 41% female; 86% white; 59% with a college degree) were recruited via the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform in this cross-sectional study. Measures of pain severity, delay discounting, probability discounting, and COVID-19 perceived stress were collected. Delay discounting was a significant predictor of overall pain severity (p
Source: Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research