28 million UK people have chronic pain, says study

21st June 2016 - Around 28 million adults in the UK are affected by chronic pain, according to a new study in the online medical journal BMJ Open.

UK researchers who reviewed available evidence since 1990 say the proportion is likely to rise as the population of the country ages.

The research led by Imperial College London reviewed 19 studies involving 139,933 adults in the UK in an attempt to quantify how many people live with long-term pain - defined as lasting longer than 3 months.

The researchers say there has been a lack of consensus about how many people experience chronic pain. One estimate suggests 7.8 million people are affected, while the British Pain Society says around 10 million people live with pain severe enough to have a major impact on their quality of life and to take days off work.

Based on 7 of the studies, the researchers say the proportion of people with chronic pain ranges from 35% to 51.3%, with the prevalence of moderate to severely disabling pain ranging from 10% to 14% -- equivalent to around 8 million people.
 

Pain increases with age

Data from 12 of the studies allowed them to conclude, perhaps not surprisingly, that pain tends to increase as we age from 14.3% of people aged 18 to 25 to 62% among those aged over 75.

After all the study data was pooled, the researchers estimate that 43% of UK adults have chronic pain.

The research also found that:

• 14% of adults in the UK live with chronic widespread pain
• 8% of adults experience chronic neuropathic pain
• 5.5% live with fibromyalgia - a diagnosis of exclusion characterised by widespread pain associated with tender points, stiffness and pain in muscles and joints and fatigue.

Women are more likely than men to be affected by chronic pain, irrespective of age or pain type, the researchers say.

"Such prevalence data does not itself define need for care or targets for prevention, but reliable information on prevalence will help to drive public health and healthcare policymakers' prioritisation of this important cause of distress and disability in the general population," they conclude.

'A devastating impact on people's lives'

Commenting on the findings in a statement, Olivia Belle, director of external affairs at Arthritis Research UK, which helped fund the research, says: "This is an important study, which starkly shows the devastating impact that chronic pain is having on people in the UK.

"As our population continues to age and obesity rates rise, we are only going to see these numbers grow. And although we may not be able to see it, living in pain, day in and day out, can have a devastating impact on people’s lives, affecting their independence, mobility and ability to stay in work. "There is also, unsurprisingly, a direct link between chronic pain and depression. If we are going to address this growing need, we need better pain management and better treatments to relieve pain."