Are symptoms of late whiplash specific? A comparison of SCL-90-R symptom profiles of patients with late whiplash and patients with chronic pain due to other types of trauma.

OBJECTIVE

Focusing on symptoms referred to as specific for late whiplash may contribute to misconceptions in assessment, treatment, and settlements. We compared Symptom Checklist 90-Revised (SCL-90-R) symptom profiles of patients with late whiplash and patients with chronic pain due to other types of trauma.

METHODS

We compared 156 late whiplash patients (WP group) with 54 chronic pain patients who had suffered different bodily trauma (non-WP group) with regard to the following aspects of the SCL-90-R: the Positive Symptom Total (PST); the nine SCL-90-R dimensions and additional global indices, i.e., Global Severity Index (GSI) and Positive Symptom Distress (PSD); and complaints referred to as specific for late whiplash syndrome.

RESULTS

The mean adjusted T score for PST was in the normal range for the WP group (T = 56.1, 95% CI 54.1-58.1) and in the pathological range for the non-WP group (T = 61.1, 95% CI 57.3-64.9). Both the WP and non-WP groups showed mean T scores in the pathological range for the dimensions "Somatization," "Obsessive-Compulsive," and PSD. Only the non-WP group had an average score in the pathological range for the dimensions "Depression," "Anxiety," and "Phobic Anxiety" and for the global indices GSI and PST. Multivariable regression controlling for gender and education level was used to identify complaints "specific for late whiplash" that were significantly associated with being in the WP group rather than the non-WP group: greater headache (OR 1.54; 95% CI 1.16, 2.03; p = 0.003) and lower emotional lability (OR 0.96; 95% CI 0.93, 0.98; p = 0.003) were the only significant variables.

CONCLUSION

Late whiplash is not a chronic pain condition characterized by specific symptoms, other than greater headache.