The prevalence of pain complaints in a general population

Pain, 1989

In a postal survey, we asked 1009 randomly chosen individuals, age 18-84, about their pain problems. The pain prevalence depended on what types of questions were asked. Any pain or discomfort, including even a problem of short duration, was reported by 66% of those questioned. Forty percent reported 'obvious pain' (pain which affected them 'to quite a high degree' or more and was 'like being stiff after exercise' or worse) lasting more than 6 months. Pain problems of more than 6 months duration were reported far more often than short-lasting problems. Continuous or nearly continuous pain problems were reported as frequently as problems recurring regularly or irregularly. Pains in the neck, shoulders, arms, lower back and legs were most frequent. The prevalence of 'obvious pain' in these localizations was 15-20%. Pain was reported most frequently in the age group 45-64, where the prevalence of 'obvious pain' was 50% among males as well as femal...

British Journal of Anaesthesia, 2013

† Identifying risk factors allows development of healthcare strategies to reduce the burden of chronic pain. † Around 20% of the population may be affected, with a huge impact on the wider society. † Some risk factors cannot be changed (e.g. gender, age); others can be modified (e.g. pain severity, mood). † Further epidemiological studies are an essential part of a chronic pain research strategy. Summary. Chronic pain affects 20% of the European population and is commoner in women, older people, and with relative deprivation. Its management in the community remains generally unsatisfactory, partly because of lack of evidence for effective interventions. Epidemiological study of chronic pain, through an understanding of its distribution and determinants, can inform the development, targeting, and evaluation of interventions in the general population. This paper reviews current knowledge of risk markers associated with chronic pain and considers how these might inform management and prevention. Risk factors include socio-demographic, clinical, psychological, and biological factors. These are relevant to our understanding of chronic pain mechanisms and the nature of, and responses to, current and future treatments.

2000

i SUMMARY • Chronic pain (CP) is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage that persists beyond the expected time frame for healing or that occurs in disease processes in which healing may never occur 1 . Standardized definitions and criteria to define "chronic" or "severe" pain are not available and diverse pain qualifiers have been proposed.

Pain, 2019

Chronic pain is a major source of suffering. It interferes with daily functioning and often is accompanied by distress. Yet, in the International Classification of Diseases, chronic pain diagnoses are not represented systematically. The lack of appropriate codes renders accurate epidemiological investigations difficult and impedes health policy decisions regarding chronic pain such as adequate financing of access to multimodal pain management. In cooperation with the WHO, an IASP Working Group has developed a classification system that is applicable in a wide range of contexts, including pain medicine, primary care, and low-resource environments. Chronic pain is defined as pain that persists or recurs for more than 3 months. In chronic pain syndromes, pain can be the sole or a leading complaint and requires special treatment and care. In conditions such as fibromyalgia or nonspecific low-back pain, chronic pain may be conceived as a disease in its own right; in our proposal, we call this subgroup "chronic primary pain." In 6 other subgroups, pain is secondary to an underlying disease: chronic cancer-related pain, chronic neuropathic pain, chronic secondary visceral pain, chronic posttraumatic and postsurgical pain, chronic secondary headache and orofacial pain, and chronic secondary musculoskeletal pain. These conditions are summarized as "chronic secondary pain" where pain may at least initially be conceived as a symptom. Implementation of these codes in the upcoming 11th edition of International Classification of Diseases will lead to improved classification and diagnostic coding, thereby advancing the recognition of chronic pain as a health condition in its own right.

Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 1988

The planning of services for the treatment of chronic pain does not seem to be based on adequate information. Although some epidemiological studies exist already, there is a need for more epidemiological knowledge.

European Journal of Anaesthesiology, 1998

Musculoskeletal pain was overwhelmingly the most common. Increasing age, obesity and being female pre-A postal survey was carried out on every 71st person disposed to the reporting of pain, with women being aged between 18 and 80 in the population registers more liable to report headache and pain in the neck in County Regierungsbezirk Karlsruhe in the State of and shoulder. One hundred and thirty-six pain reporters Baden-Wü rtemberg. It asked 2127 persons whether either gave no information on consultation or sought they had, in the previous 6 months, experienced any no help from healthcare professionals: a third of the form of unduly prolonged pain (as distinct from brief remainder consulted more than one professional, with intercurrent self-limiting episodes related to injury general practitioners and specialists in physical mediinflammation etc.) and, if so, to specify its location, cine (niedergelassener Orthopä de) being the most duration, severity and persistence. It also sought common. A wide variety of treatments were used, with information on the resulting calls on healthcare oral medications, massage, exercises, mud pack and professionals and the degree of satisfaction with treatheat treatment being the most popular; two-thirds of ments received. The age and gender distributions of sufferers used more than one type of treatment. The the sample selected for survey matched those in the most popular types of treatment tended also to be the population from which it was drawn. Of the 1420 remost successful, except for oral medication (which was spondents, only 1304 declared their age and genderalso the most heterogeneous). Multiple logistic rea condition for inclusion in the analysis. Of these, 610 gression analyses identified consistent associations reported some form of unduly prolonged pain, which between duration and severity of pain, the number of had lasted more than a year in 530. For all pain lasting sites where it was reported, the numbers of healthcare longer than a year, the estimated prevalence of mild professionals consulted and the number of treatments pain was 11%, severe 25% and intolerable 3.5%: the tried, and the same groupings of features were ascorresponding estimates for persistent as opposed to sociated with decreased likelihood of overall satepisodic pain were 2% for mild, 10% for severe and isfaction with treatment received. 1% for intolerable. Pain was present in more than one anatomical location in most of those who reported it.

Mayo Clinic proceedings, 2015

Pain is considered a major clinical, social, and economic problem in communities around the world. In this review, we describe the incidence, prevalence, and economic burden of pain conditions in children, adolescents, and adults based on an electronic search of the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases for articles published from January 1, 2000, through August 1, 2014, using the keywords pain, epidemiology, burden, prevalence, and incidence. The impact of pain on individuals and potential risk factors are also discussed. Differences in the methodology and conduct of epidemiological studies make it difficult to provide precise estimates of prevalence and incidence; however, the burden of pain is unquestionably large. Improved concepts and methods are needed in order to study pain from a population perspective and further the development of pain prevention and management strategies.

The Israel Medical Association journal : IMAJ, 2008

The prevalence of chronic pain in the general population ranges from 10% to over 40%, depending on the definition and the population studied. No large study has been conducted in Israel. To evaluate the prevalence of patients with chronic pain, and characterize them in a large community random sample. We conducted a survey of Clalit Health Services members, interviewing them by phone. A random sample of 4063 Clalit members, 25 years or older and Hebrew speakers, were screened for chronic pain, defined as: any pain or discomfort that in the last 6 months has persisted continuously or intermittently for more than 3 months. Eight percent (n=325) refused to participate. Of the 3738 included in the study, 1722 (46%) reported chronic pain in at least one site. Most of the patients were over 50-years-old (62%) (mean age 56 +/- 16, range 27-97 years). Women suffered significantly more than men, as did those who were older, less educated and born in Israel and Eastern Europe. Prevalent painf...

Background: Chronic pain is a major public health problem. The impact of stages of chronic pain adjusted for disease load on societal burden has not been assessed in population surveys. Methods: A cross-sectional survey with 4360 people aged ≥ 14 years representative of the German population was conducted. Measures obtained included demographic variables, presence of chronic pain (based on the definition of the International Association for the Study of Pain), chronic pain stages (by chronic pain grade questionnaire), disease load (by self-reported comorbidity questionnaire) and societal burden (by self-reported number of doctor visits, nights spent in hospital and days of sick leave/disability in the previous 12 months, and by current unemployment). Associations between chronic pain stages with societal burden, adjusted for demographic variables and disease load, were tested by Poisson and logistic regression analyses. Results: 2508 responses were received. 19.4% (95% CI 16.8% to 22.0%) of participants met the criteria of chronic non-disabling non-malignant pain. 7.4% (95% CI 5.0% to 9.9%) met criteria for chronic disabling non-malignant pain. Compared with no chronic pain, the rate ratio (RR) of days with sick leave/disability was 1.6 for non-disabling pain and 6.4 for disabling pain. After adjusting for age and disease load, the RRs increased to 1.8 and 6.8. The RR of doctor visits was 2.5 for non-disabling pain and 4.5 for disabling pain if compared with no chronic pain. After adjusting for age and disease load, the RR fell to 1.7 and 2.6. The RR of days in hospital was 2.7 for non-disabling pain and 11.7 for disabling pain if compared with no chronic pain. After adjusting for age and disease load, the RR fell to 1.5 and 4.0. Unemployment was predicted by lower educational level (Odds Ratio OR 3.27 [95% CI 1.70-6.29]), disabling pain (OR 3.30 [95% CI 1.76-6.21]) and disease load (OR 1.70 [95% CI 1.41-2.05]). Conclusion: Chronic pain stages, but also disease load and societal inequalities contributed to societal burden. Pain measurements in epidemiology research of chronic pain should include chronic pain grades and disease load.

Social Science & Medicine, 1996

An estimated 1.7 million disabled adults (95% CI + 74,000), living in private households in Great Britain, reported pain symptoms which severely affected their daily activities. That is, the pain they experienced is so severe, unrelieved and recurring as to limit or prevent their ability to perform ordinary, everyday, activities. They represent 30% of disabled adults suggesting that pain is a substantial cause of disability and a major public health problem. The prevalence of severely limiting pain increased with age declining beyond age 55 though younger disabled adults, and women generally, reported more severe pain symptoms. Pain was associated with disabilities which commonly have a physical origin and directly affect bodily movement, compounding the problems of daily living for this population. Three-quarters of those whose lives were limited by pain said the worst bouts of pain occurred at least once a week; half took analgesic medicine every day. More than nine out often disabled people suffering pain had recent contact with primary and community health or hospital services.