The assessment process of chronic pain patients may improve from knowing early on which patients are likely to have a less or more problematic condition. We assigned 320 patients entering tertiary pain treatment into four categories based on whether they scored low or high on activity and affective pain interference dimensions in the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI). To determine whether this categorization suggests issues that should be assessed further, the categories were compared on three domains: variables affecting physical well-being (body mass index, exercise, substance use), psychological resources (mood), and pain-specific psychological factors (pain anxiety, pain acceptance). 
The results indicated that subjects who scored low on both interference dimensions compared similarly in overweight and exercise to the general population, had no depressive symptoms on average, and had the most favorable psychological reactions to pain relative to the other categories. In contrast, when interference was high on activity, more problems appeared in weight, diminished exercise, and avoidance behavior. With high affective interference, more depressive symptoms and cognitive pain anxiety emerged. Having high interference on both dimensions indicated accumulated risks for reduced physical well-being, mood problems, and most negative psychological reactions to pain. We conclude that low interference on both dimensions may allow faster assessment, high interference on either dimension may call attention to distinct issues, and high interference on both dimensions highlights the need for a full multidisciplinary assessment

PAIN INTERFERENCE TYPE AND LEVEL GUIDE THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS IN CHRONIC PAIN