Inter-relationships between pain-related temporomandibular disorders, somatic and psychological symptoms in Asian youths.

OBJECTIVE

This cross-sectional, observational study assessed the inter-relationships between painful TMDs, somatic and psychological symptoms in Asian youths.

METHODS

Study subjects were recruited from a local Polytechnic. Pain-related TMDs were established with the TMD pain screener (TPS), while somatic and psychological symptoms were assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15) and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21). Demographic information, TPS, PHQ-15 and DASS-21 responses were gathered with the CDRSS system and analysed using the binomial-exact test, Mann-Whitney U test, Spearman's rho correlation and logistic regression analysis (P < .05).

RESULTS

Data from a total of 400 participants were collected and examined. The "no TMDs" (NT) group comprised of 366 subjects (180 males; 186 females) with a mean age of 18.72 ± 1.49 years, while the "with TMDs" (WT) group consisted of 34 subjects (11 males; 23 females) aged 19.26 ± 1.89 years. Significant differences in median PHQ-15 and DASS-21 scores were observed between the NT and WT groups (P ≤ .007). The WT group was observed to have moderate somatic symptoms, moderate depression, moderate-to-severe anxiety and mild stress. For subjects with pain-related TMDs, correlation between somatic and psychological symptoms was moderate-to-strong (rs  = .55-.69). Stepwise logistic regression indicated that somatisation and anxiety were possible risk factors for painful TMDs with odds ratios of 1.08 and 1.07, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of pain-related TMDs was 8.5%. Subjects with painful TMDs had significantly higher levels of somatic and psychological distress. In addition, somatic symptoms were strongly correlated with anxiety and stress but less so with depression.