More than two-fifths of the UK population are living with chronic pain, according to a new study that estimates around 28 million adults experience pain lasting three months or longer. The research, published in BMJ Open, found that up to 14.3% of people have moderately or severely disabling chronic pain.
Alan Fayaz, an author of the study from Imperial College London, described chronic pain as a 'silent epidemic'. 'Pain is really under-represented in terms of the public awareness of it. Nobody ever talks about chronic pain,' he said. The study reviewed 19 studies since 1990 involving nearly 140,000 people in the UK.
Women were found to be more likely than men to suffer from chronic pain, and prevalence generally increased with age. In one study, prevalence among those over 75 was as high as 62%. Fayaz noted that with an ageing population, the problem is likely to worsen.
The team analysed seven studies exploring chronic pain across the general population and estimated that 43.5% are affected. However, the study did not investigate underlying causes. Fayaz said they wanted to steer discussion away from causes to acknowledge that chronic pain shares common features impacting assessment and management.
Fayaz hopes the findings highlight the need for better diagnostic tools and care for those most severely affected. 'What I would really like is for us to have better tools in order for us to identify those people who are most severely affected and how we can help them, what their care needs are,' he said.
