Anxiety sensitivity and fatigue severity among adults with chronic low back pain

Background: The combined impact of chronic low back pain (CLBP) and fatigue severity is associated with increased burden and worsened symptoms. Understanding factors that may contribute to and maintain fatigue severity among individuals with CLBP is needed to isolate intervention modalities. Methods: The current study sought to investigate the role of anxiety sensitivity (AS) in terms of fatigue severity among 1,663 adults (70.0% female, M_age = 44.5 years, SD = 11.87) with current mild to severe CLBP as well as a subset of the sample with clinically significant fatigue (n = 778). Results: Results indicated AS was a positively and statistically significant predictor of fatigue severity among the entire sample and the subset of the sample with clinically significant fatigue. Conclusions: These cross-sectional data highlight the potential promise of AS as an underrecognized cognitive vulnerability for greater fatigue severity among those with CLBP.