Almost half of all UK adults may be living with chronic pain

Conclusion This systematic review aimed to combine available data on the prevalence of chronic pain in the UK adult population. The 19 identified studies suggested that 43% of people in the UK experience chronic pain. However, there are both strengths and limitations to this review that may affect the reliability of this finding. The review has strengths in the careful search methods which aimed to identify only studies relevant to the general population. The researchers also did their best to provide the most reliable estimate by performing a quality assessment of studies and excluding those at particularly high risk of bias. The main limitation is that a systematic review can only be as good as the included studies, and in this case there were few high-quality studies and a lot of variation in their findings. The included studies mainly collected data using questionnaires, which are subject to various sources of bias. The response rate ranged from 36.3% to 89.7% and it is possible that those who respond are more likely to be experiencing pain than those who aren't. If this was the case, then this could be an overestimate of prevalence. We also cannot tell from these findings what the cause of pain was, and whether people were receiving the appropriate management for it. Whether the prevalence found in this review is accurate or not, living with chronic pain has a negative impact on quality of life. It can affect mobility and limit daily activity, affect employment, soci...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medical practice Medication Mental health Neurology Older people Source Type: news