Pain catastrophising, body mass index and depressive symptoms are associated with pain severity in tertiary referral orthopaedic foot/ankle patients

Abstract

This study demonstrated that specific psychological comorbidities and increased BMI are common in this cohort and that these factors are associated with the symptoms for which patients are seeking orthopaedic assessment. This knowledge should prompt clinicians to routinely consider the psychosocial components of patient presentations and develop non-operative and pre-operative treatment strategies which consider these factors with the goal of improving overall patient outcomes.