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. 2021 Dec 21:11:26335565211005870.
doi: 10.1177/26335565211005870. eCollection 2021 Jan-Dec.

Prevalence of chronic pain in LTCs and multimorbidity: A cross-sectional study using UK Biobank

Ross McQueenie  1 , Bhautesh Dinesh Jani  1 , Stefan Siebert  2 , Philip McLoone  1 , Colin McCowan  3 , Sara Macdonald  1 , Frances S Mair  1 , Barbara I Nicholl  1
Affiliations

Prevalence of chronic pain in LTCs and multimorbidity: A cross-sectional study using UK Biobank

Ross McQueenie et al. J Multimorb Comorb. .

Abstract

Objectives: Chronic pain is often experienced alongside other long-term conditions (LTCs), yet our understanding of this, particularly in relation to multimorbidity (≥2 LTCs) is poor. We aimed to examine associations between the presence/extent of chronic pain with type/number of LTCs experienced.

Methods: We examined the relationship between number/type of LTCs (N = 45) in UK Biobank participants (n = 500,295) who self-reported chronic pain lasting ≥3 months in seven body sites or widespread. Relative risk ratios (RRR) for presence/extent of chronic pain sites were compared using logistic regression adjusted for sociodemographic (sex/age/socioeconomic status) and lifestyle factors (smoking/alcohol intake/BMI/physical activity).

Results: 218,648 participants self-reported chronic pain. Of these, 69.1% reported ≥1 LTC and 36.2% reported ≥2 LTCs. In 31/45 LTCs examined, >50% of participants experienced chronic pain. Chronic pain was common with migraine/headache and irritable bowel syndrome where pain is a primary symptom, but also with mental health conditions and diseases of the digestive system. Participants with >4 LTCs were over three times as likely to have chronic pain (RRR 3.56, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) 3.44-3.68) and 20 times as likely to have widespread chronic pain (RRR 20.13, 95% CI 18.26-22.19) as those with no LTCs.

Conclusions: Chronic pain is extremely common across a wide range of LTCs. People with multimorbidity were at higher risk of having a greater extent of chronic pain. These results show that chronic pain is a key factor for consideration in the management of patients with LTCs or multimorbidity.

Keywords: Chronic pain; long-term conditions; multimorbidity; prevalence.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Prevalence of chronic pain in participants with each of the included 45 long-term conditions. RA: rheumatoid arthritis; AS: ankylosing spondylitis.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Number of chronic pain sites in each LTC. RA: rheumatoid arthritis; AS: ankylosing spondylitis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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