Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 Jun 28:9:457-67.
doi: 10.2147/JPR.S105892. eCollection 2016.

A review of chronic pain impact on patients, their social environment and the health care system

María Dueñas  1 , Begoña Ojeda  2 , Alejandro Salazar  2 , Juan Antonio Mico  3 , Inmaculada Failde  2
Affiliations
Review

A review of chronic pain impact on patients, their social environment and the health care system

María Dueñas et al. J Pain Res. .

Abstract

Chronic pain (CP) seriously affects the patient's daily activities and quality of life, but few studies on CP have considered its effects on the patient's social and family environment. In this work, through a review of the literature, we assessed several aspects of how CP influences the patient's daily activities and quality of life, as well as its repercussions in the workplace, and on the family and social environment. Finally, the consequences of pain on the health care system are discussed. On the basis of the results, we concluded that in addition to the serious consequences on the patient's life, CP has a severe detrimental effect on their social and family environment, as well as on health care services. Thus, we want to emphasize on the need to adopt a multidisciplinary approach to treatment so as to obtain more comprehensive improvements for patients in familial and social contexts. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to promote more social- and family-oriented research initiatives.

Keywords: everyday problems; family environment; health services; pain; social relationships.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Biopsychosocial model of pain and consequences on the quality of life.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Breivik H, Collett B, Ventafridda V, Cohen R, Gallacher D. Survey of chronic pain in Europe: prevalence, impact on daily life, and treatment. Eur J Pain. 2006;10(4):287–333. - PubMed
    1. Langley PC, Ruiz-Iban MA, Molina JT, De Andres J, Castellon JR. The prevalence, correlates and treatment of pain in Spain. J Med Econ. 2011;14(3):367–380. - PubMed
    1. Leadley RM, Armstrong N, Lee YC, Allen A, Kleijnen J. Chronic diseases in the European Union: the prevalence and health cost implications of chronic pain. J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother. 2012;26(4):310–325. - PubMed
    1. Dueñas M, Salazar A, Ojeda B, et al. A nationwide study of chronic pain prevalence in the general Spanish population: identifying clinical subgroups through cluster analysis. Pain Med. 2015;16(4):811–822. - PubMed
    1. Closs SJ, Staples V, Reid I, Bennett MI, Briggs M. The impact of neuropathic pain on relationships. J Adv Nurs. 2009;65(2):402–411. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources