Socioeconomic burden of pain in rheumatic disease

Abstract

Socioeconomic inequities in the health outcomes of rheumatic diseases, including pain, have been well documented across countries and study designs. Nevertheless, health disparities remain surprisingly-poorly understood in the rheumatic diseases, owing both to the complex nature of those disorders, and to methodological challenges surrounding the evaluation of social class and of its ties to health. Methodological difficulties in measuring SES can complicate interpretation of results to understand mechanisms of these associations. Current research on associations between SES and pain in rheumatic diseases are summarised in this article. Our review indicates that inequalities in pain in patients with OA and RA with low individual SES are strong and well-established, although associations in other rheumatic conditions and with community or childhood SES are less well-established. Further, the range of proposed mechanisms underlying disparities is broad, encompassing numerous indicators of SES, such as occupation, income, and education and varying widely by disease.