Arterial spin labelling is a powerful, non-invasive tool to map cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the study of neural activity patterns underpinning spontaneous behaviour or personality traits. In this study we sought to directly investigate the effects of negative affect, specifically trait anxiety on local cerebral blood flow in a group of patients with chronic pain known to have mildly elevated anxiety scores. This study found widespread cerebral blood flow in osteoarthritis subjects with chronic pain that correlate significantly with trait anxiety, overlapping with regions previously reported to relate to autonomic functions. fMRI studies should account for increased physiological arousal.
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