Chronic Pain Common Among Those With Long-term Conditions

Chronic pain may be experienced by more than half of people (53.8%) with multiple (two or three) long-term health conditions as per a study at the University of Glasgow, published in the Journal of Multimorbidity and Comorbidity. Chronic pain is defined as any pain that lasts for three months or more. Nearly 43% of UK adults live with chronic pain and 11% to 17% report widespread pain.

The team analyzed data of 218,656 participants from UK Biobank to also examine the relationship between the number and type of long-term conditions in participants who self-reported chronic pain.

The study for the first time represents the prevalence of chronic pain in people with a broad range of long-term conditions and different levels of multimorbidity.

In addition, it was also found that 75% of people with 4 or more long-term conditions reported at least one site of chronic pain —four times likely to experience chronic pain as compared to those without comorbidities.

“This study is important because it highlights a much-neglected area of healthcare – namely the coexistence of chronic pain and multimorbidity. Our study shows that the presence of chronic pain should be a key factor for consideration in the management of patients with 2 or more other long-term conditions. Going forward, this area needs more research and clinical consideration,” says Dr. Barbara Nicholl, Senior Lecturer at the University’s Institute of Health and Wellbeing.

Source-Medindia