title: Chronic pain in Australia: a prevalence study.
abstract: This study reports chronic pain prevalence in a randomly selected sample of the adult Australian population. Data were collected by Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) using randomly generated telephone numbers and a two-stage stratified sample design. Chronic pain was defined as pain experienced every day for three months in the six months prior to interview. There were 17,543 completed interviews (response rate=70.8%). Chronic pain was reported by 17.1% of males and 20.0% of females. For males, prevalence peaked at 27.0% in the 65--69 year age group and for females, prevalence peaked at 31.0% in the oldest age group (80--84 years). Having chronic pain was significantly associated with older age, female gender, lower levels of completed education, and not having private health insurance; it was also strongly associated with receiving a disability benefit (adjusted OR=3.89, P<0.001) or unemployment benefit (adjusted OR=1.99, P<0.001); being unemployed for health reasons (adjusted OR=6.41, P<0.001); having poor self-rated health (adjusted OR=7.24, P<0.001); and high levels of psychological distress (adjusted OR=3.16, P<0.001). Eleven per cent of males and 13.5% of females in the survey reported some degree of interference with daily activities caused by their pain. Prevalence of interference was highest in the 55--59 year age group in both males (17.2%) and females (19.7%). Younger respondents with chronic pain were proportionately most likely to report interference due to pain, affecting 84.3% of females and 75.9% of males aged 20--24 years with chronic pain. Within the subgroup of respondents reporting chronic pain, the presence of interference with daily activities caused by pain was significantly associated with younger age; female gender; and not having private health insurance. There were strong associations between having interfering chronic pain and receiving disability benefits (adjusted OR=3.31, P<0.001) or being unemployed due to health reasons (adjusted OR=7.94, P<0.001, respectively). The results show that chronic pain impacts upon a large proportion of the adult Australian population, including the working age population, and is strongly associated with markers of social disadvantage.
authors.affiliation: Pain Management and Research Centre, University of Sydney, Royal North Shore Hospital, St. Leonards, NSW 2065, Australia. fionab@dph1.health.usyd.edu.au
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Blyth
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: March
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Brnabic
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Jorm
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Cousins
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003625:Data Collection; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D013689:Telephone; D014478:Unemployment