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review: clinical, social, and economic costs of chronic pain

submitted by robertkamper on fri, 2006-03-31 17:57. terms: neurological pain

Medscape online has an interesting article on current data on chronic pain. (registration may be required; the site is primarily intended for medical professionals).

The article/continuing education activity consists of slides and transcripts from a workshop held last year, and the lectures are available as a podcast as well.

Although headaches and migraine headaches are not a central focus of the presentations, (skeletal pain and arthritis are the biggest sources of chronic pain - in the US headaches are 3rd) the impact is pretty much as Susan described in one of her earlier posts in the neurological pain forum.

Chronic pain, or pathological pain, is widespread globally. Depending on which survey and locale, between 13% to 53% of the population report suffering from chronic pain. Women report it more frequently, on a 3 to 2 ratio compared to men, and once the 35 to 44 year range is passed, higher than average percentages of the population report chronic pain (average for all ages is 20%. Once past 44 years, between one fourth to one third of the population is living with chronic pain.

In other words, it isn't going away, and as the population ages, it will become more of a problem. Back pain and arthritis are and will be the leading causes of pain.

Chronic pain interferes with daily activities, especially the ability to exercise or participate in sports. Sleep, mood, and performing daily tasks are other aspects of life that are affected adversely. Relationships with family, friends and at work are also negatively impacted.

Poor physical health and mental health are also highly associated with pain, with feelings of helplessness and depression common. In an Australian study, effectiveness at work was reduced by 14%, the equivalent of missing at least 3 five day workweeks during six months.

People with chronic pain access health facility resources about three times more than the general population, and the calculation of real costs for chronic pain in the US is about $86 Billion USD per year. In a UK study, 10% of the costs were health related but about 85% were due to employment related costs.

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medline article
submitted by susanjillian (not verified) on sat, 2006-04-01 23:19.

Thanks Bob! This is great. I did sign up with Medline and I think the article is very good. Appreciate you posting this. There is a move toward specialized focus on pain medicine - treating the pain and then looking at the root cause instead of the other way around. I support this approach which gets the patient out of pain - first - then look at possible reasons for the pain once the patient is comfortable.

Managed pain changes how you function and how you look at life. I had to make a huge adjustment in my thinking when I started to manage my pain successfully. This is where guidance can step in and play a role in the life of people who live with pain. The new life we have with less pain is very strange at first.

The most difficult thing I have to deal with is expressing to others that managed pain is not cured pain. It is for the most part either pain that is not felt, or pain that is redirected. I still have the underlying cause, and that is a trade off I'm content with. People who do not have experience with this type of long term condition (life with pain) have expressed that they would want to be cured rather than masking pain. Well of course I've had the option of living with it and not knowing the exact cause or masking and not knowing. I will take masking and not knowing any day.

Again, I appreciate this article!

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pain and depression
submitted by robertkamper on wed, 2006-04-19 21:42.

There's an interesting advertisement for a drug named Cymbalta being aired these days that addresses pain as a symptom/cause of depression. They run the ad on their website, and it comes with an interactive symptom mapping checklist developed by the University of Michigan Depression Center.

All in all, credit for educating the public about this oft stigmatized problem (depressed? Snap out of it! Don't be so negative all the time! Oh, you're just gettin' older, etc.)
so I won't make any rude comments about how the purpose of the site is to sell drugs for profit by a big corporation ...

Better Living through Endorphins

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