A Comparison of Symptom Checklist 90—Revised Profiles From Patients With Chronic Pain From Whiplash and Patients With Other Musculoskeletal Injuries

Abstract

A quasi-experimental design was used to compare the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised profiles (SCL-90-R) from a group of patients with whiplash injuries (n = 67) and a group with mixed musculoskeletal pain (n = 91). To test the discriminant validity of the characteristic SCL-90-R whiplash profile as proposed by Wallis and Bogduk using a multivariate statistical technique. On the basis of two studies by themselves and their colleagues, Wallis and Bogduk proposed a characteristic SCL-90-R profile evident in samples of patients with whiplash injuries. Their assertion has not been tested empirically in any published studies. The participants in this study consisted of 158 patients at a rehabilitation hospital who completed the SCL-90-R under standard instructions and subsequently were diagnosed by a team comprising a chiropractor, physical therapist, and physician. The participants were categorized as having whiplash-associated disorders or pain caused by other musculoskeletal injuries. A profile analysis following Hotelling's method was used to determine the comparability of SCL-90-R profiles from the two groups. The profile analysis showed no statistically significant differences between the groups with regard to either the shape or the overall elevation of their psychological profiles. The SCL-90-R profiles from both groups were similar to those reported from other chronic pain syndromes, with elevations on the Somatization, Depression, Obsessive-Compulsive, and Psychoticism scales. The current study failed to support the validity of a distinctive SCL-90-R profile for patients with whiplash injuries. Instead, the results suggest that the psychological consequences of experiencing chronic pain from whiplash-associated disorders are similar to the psychological consequences of chronic pain from other musculoskeletal injuries.