The impact of socio-economic status on pain and the perception of disability due to pain

Abstract

Pain is a major burden for society and a great challenge for public health. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of socio-economic status (SES) with pain, and assess if there were socio-economic differences in the impairment due to pain, even when the same level of pain was reported. Data were sourced from the Austrian Health Interview Survey 2006-2007, a population based nation-wide survey with 15,474 respondents. SES, based on education, income and profession was inversely and gradually associated with the prevalence of severe pain, with the number of indicated painful body sites, the intensity of pain, and with the subjective level of feeling disabled through pain. In a stepwise logistic regression model, adjusted for age, gender, diseases, number of painful body sites and intensity of pain, people with lower SES gradually reported greater disability through pain. Even at the same intensity of pain and the same number of painful body sites, people in the lowest as compared to the highest socio-economic class were twice to three times more likely to feel disabled through pain. Adjusted odds ratios for the lowest group of SES was 2.80 (95% CI, 1.93-4.06) in terms of education, 1.83 (95% CI, 1.40-2.41) in terms of income and 2.05 (95% CI, 1.32-3.19) in terms of profession. This unexplained socio-economic gradient contributes to the confirmation of the social component in a bio-psycho-social model of pain.

Retracted: Postoperative pain after irrigation with Vibringe versus a conventional needle: a randomized controlled trial

“…The perception of pain is subjective and dependent on the individual, cultural and economic conditions of the patient (Dorner et al 2011). Measuring such a subjective experience as pain is difficult; therefore, in this study, the level of discomfort was rated in only four categories to simplify the rating of pain.…”

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of nursing students on Hospital Acquired Infections in Western region of Nepal

“…7 Poor compliance is associated with lack of awareness among personnel. 8 The other factors are personnal and organizational attitude towards interventions like hand washing, cost containment and logistical barriers. 9 The education regarding HAIs has a positive impact on retention of KAP in all categories of health workers to prevent infections.…”

The pain of low status: the relationship between subjective socio-economic status and analgesic prescriptions in a Scottish community sample

“…Finally, it does not consider the extent to which individuals' lives are affected by pain. As discussed, low OSS individuals tend to be more disabled by pain (Dorner et al, 2011;Portenoy, Ugarte, Fuller, & Haas, 2004), and experience lower life quality (Gerstle et al, 2001). Overall, these limitations suggest that future research should perhaps include subjective measures of pain and general health, whilst still including analgesic prescriptions as an objective measure.…”

“…Saastamoinen, Leino-Arjas, Laaksonen, and Lahelma (2005) found employees in Helsinki with relatively low educational attainment and occupational class were most at risk of chronic/disabling pain, while Dorner et al (2011) report that people with lower OSS not only experience more severe pain, but also greater pain-related disability when severity is controlled for. Gerstle et al (2001) found that amongst Americans with chronic pain, low OSS was associated with lower perceived life quality.…”