One in four Spaniards lives with chronic pain

2023-04-25 12:58:18

He chronic pain It is a common and serious consequence of many chronic conditions with a strong impact on the quality of life of patients and even economically.

Now, the Barometer of chronic pain in Spain 2022, prepared by the Grünenthal Foundation and the pain observatory from the University of Cádiz puts figures on this problem at the national level, and has found that one in four people in our country lives with it, and a third of that percentage does not know the cause.

57% feel ‘a lot of pain’

Thus, as reported this Tuesday by the director of the Inmaculada Failde Pain Observatory at a press conference on the occasion of the presentation of the study, the prevalence of chronic pain in our country specifically reaches 25.9%. Up to 57.6% of these people say they have ‘a lot of pain’; the mean age of affected patients is 51.5 years and the mean duration of pain is 6.8 years.

There are notable differences by sex; According to the conclusions of this study, the proportion of women in Spain who suffer from chronic pain would reach up to almost one in three (30.5%)while in men it is slightly higher than one in five (21.3%).

The area of ​​the body that is most affected are limbs and jointsin up to 33.1% of cases, followed by the entire body (generalized) in 13.2% and the neck and cervicals (10.6%).

It is related to anxiety in 27.6% of cases

Another noteworthy point resides in the impact that chronic pain can have on the mental health of those who suffer it; Up to 22.2% of people with this problem suffer from depression, while up to 27.6% suffer from anxiety. In part, this aspect is influenced by the difficulties that chronic pain causes; As an example, almost 60% of these patients experience problems getting out of bed or from a chair.

The most common diagnosed causes are low back pain (58.1% of cases), muscle contractures (50.6%), cervical pain (46.2%), osteoarthritis (33%) and osteoporosis (33%). Of course, in more than 27% of cases there is no diagnosis of the cause.

Finally, the report highlights the fact that up to 28.6% of patients with chronic pain have received a sick leave in the last year, which accounts for the economic weight that this problem comes to have.

References

Grünenthal Foundation & Pain Observatory of the University of Cádiz. Barometer of chronic pain in Spain 2022. (2023). Viewed online at https://www.fundaciongrunenthal.es/fundacion/con-la-ciencia/barometro-dolor-cronico-espana-2022 on 04/25/2023.