Symptom characteristics in women with chronic WAD, grades I-II, and chronic insidious onset neck pain: A cross-sectional study with an 18-month follow-up

Introduction. A questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study with an 18-month follow-up telephone interview was designed to determine whether symptom characteristics differ in women presenting with chronic (> 6 months) neck pain related to whiplash associated disorder (WAD), grades I-II (n = 41) and chronic insidious onset neck pain (IONP) (n = 39). Methods. The women were recruited from informed doctors and physical therapists. The duration of symptoms was > 6 months and < 48 months in both groups. The main outcome is given as frequency distribution of duration and nature of neck pain and related disorders. Results. Neck pain, shoulder pain, self-reported activity-related complaints and specific complaints, like numbness in the arms, memory loss and poor concentration, were significantly more prevalent and severe in the WAD-group as compared to the IONP-group (p = 0.01, 0.001 and 0.01, respectively). The telephone interview 18 months later showed that 97.3% of the respondents in the WAD-group and 47.2% of the respondents in the IONP-group were still symptomatic. Conclusion. The results indicate that the women in the chronic WAD-group had more severe symptoms than the Women in the chronic IONP-group. Once in a chronic phase, the symptoms of women with WAD are more persistent and severe.