Prevalence and characteristics of chronic pain in the general Norwegian population.
BACKGROUND
Population-based studies suggest that prevalence of chronic pain is increasing. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of chronic pain in a sample drawn from the general Norwegian population. In addition, the characteristics of chronic pain, as well as differences in demographic characteristics and health-related variables between persons with and without chronic pain were evaluated.


METHODS
A total of 4000 Norwegian citizens, were randomly drawn from the National Register, by Statistics Norway and were mailed a questionnaire.


RESULTS
The response rate was 48.5%. The majority of the sample was female (51%), married (59%), and working for pay (69%) with a mean age of 45.2 years. The prevalence of chronic pain in the total sample was 24.4%, and 65% of the participants with chronic pain indicated that they had experienced chronic pain for over 5 years. The cause of the pain was not specified by 57% of the participants in chronic pain, and 31% reported no pain treatments. Women, older individuals, persons with less education, and those who were pensioned, reported chronic pain more frequently. The results of a logistic regression analysis indicate that the variables that provide unique contributions to predicting pain group memberships were: gender, education, being frequently ill, or having a chronic illness.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that chronic pain is a significant problem in the general Norwegian population, and that gender, education, being frequently ill, or having a chronic illness are important variables in predicting pain group membership.
Rustøen
Tone
T
Faculty of Nursing, Oslo University College, PO Box 4, St. Olavs Place , 0130 Oslo, Norway. tone.rustoen@su.hio.no
Wahl
Astrid Klopstad
AK
Hanestad
Berit Rokne
BR
Lerdal
Anners
A
Paul
Steven
S
Miaskowski
Christine
C
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D010146:Pain / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011153:Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires