RESEARCH ARTICLE
Correlation of Pain Scores, Analgesic Use, and Beck Anxiety Inventory Scores During Hospitalization in Lower Extremity Amputees
Cathy D Trame*, 1, Erin Greene2, Gail Moddeman3, Branyan A Booth4, Emmanuel K Konstantakos4, Stephen Parada5, Karl Siebuhr4, Richard T Laughlin4
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2008Volume: 2
First Page: 145
Last Page: 150
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-2-145
DOI: 10.2174/1874325000802010145
Article History:
Received Date: 1/5/2008Revision Received Date: 9/6/2008
Acceptance Date: 3/7/2008
Electronic publication date: 24/10/2008
Collection year: 2008

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Post amputation pain can be debilitating for patients and families. Chronic pain is a common phenomenon after lower extremity amputation, occurring in up to 80% of this population. The purpose of this pilot study was to correlate post amputation pain scores to opioid analgesic consumption and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) scores. Twenty-three patients with lower extremity amputation at an 827-bed acute care inner-city hospital were surveyed pre-operatively and post-operatively to determine if there was a significant correlation between anxiety and pain. A numeric scale was utilized by patients to rate their pain level, while the BAI was utilized to measure their anxiety levels.
A significant correlation was found between the pre-operative BAI levels and the BAI levels identified at time of discharge. Patients were found to have a higher than normal level of anxiety pre-operatively. No significant correlations were found between anxiety and pain.