Principal component analysis of the biopsychosocial features relevant to temporomandibular disorders

Objectives: This study aimed to explore the dimensionality of three biopsychosocial constructs with multiple subdimensions, including the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90R), pain catastrophizing scale (PCS) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and to identify the latent dimensions of five biopsychosocial constructs (SCL-90R, PCS, PSQI, pain severity, and pain interference) using the principal component analysis (PCA) in patients with temporomandibular disorder (TMD). Subjects and Methods: A secondary analysis of a previous cross-sectional study comprising 1488 patients with painful TMD was conducted using multiple questionnaires. Results: PCA of the SCL-90R and PCS identified one factor, which explained 60.8% and 80.2% of the total variance, respectively. For the PSQI, three factors explained 61.3% of the variance. PCA resulted in two main orthogonal components: factor 1, which comprised a combination of scores for pain severity, pain interference and global scores of PCS, and PSQI; and factor 2, which comprised one measure of the SCL-90R. Factors 1 (46.5%) and 2 (20.0%) explained 66.5% of the total variance. Conclusion: The findings of this study revealed that five measures can be primarily categorised into two latent constructs of the psychological (affective) and pain-related (sensory-cognitive) dimensions. These core components could be applied in clinical settings and for research purposes.

Automated summary

The objective of this study was to explore the dimensions of three biopsychosocial constructs and identify the latent dimensions of five constructs in patients with TMD. The findings revealed that the constructs can be primarily categorized into two dimensions: psychological (affective) and pain-related (sensory-cognitive).