Health utilities in people with chronic pain using a population-level survey and linked health care administrative data

Abstract: Health utilities are a preference-based measure of health-related quality of life that facilitates comparison of disease burden across conditions. We estimated utilities using a population-based, matched sample of adolescents and adults with and without chronic pain, controlling for comorbidity. Ontarians aged ≥12 years with and without chronic pain were identified from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) 2000-2001 and 2009-2010 and linked to their provincial health care administrative data. Individuals with chronic pain were matched to those without using age, sex, survey year, and a propensity score for having chronic pain estimated from a rurality index, income quintile, and comorbidity. The Health Utilities Index Mark 3 instrument, included in the Canadian Community Health Survey, was used. Mean utilities were calculated for each group. Utility decrement for chronic pain was also calculated for each matched pair. A total of 65,246 responses were available for analysis. After matching, there were 12,146 matched pairs with and without pain. In the matched cohort, mean age was 54 years (SD 12); 61% were female. The matched cohort with chronic pain had a mean utility of 0.59 (95% confidence interval 0.58-0.59), and the decrement associated with chronic pain was 0.32 (95% confidence interval 0.31-0.32). Utilities in people with chronic pain were lower than, and decrements larger than, those seen with most other chronic diseases including heart disease, diab...
Source: Pain - Category: Anesthesiology Tags: Research Paper Source Type: research