title: The pain of low status: the relationship between subjective socio-economic status and analgesic prescriptions in a Scottish community sample.
abstract: There is a strong positive relationship between objective measures of socio-economic status (OSS) and general health. However, there is an increasing interest in the relationship between health and subjective socio-economic status (SSS), which describes one's perceived rank in relation to the rest of the society, based on factors such as income, occupation and education. While the relationship between SSS and general health is well established, the relationship between SSS and pain has received little attention. Gathering both self-report questionnaire data and General Practitioner medical data from a large representative community sample in Scotland between 2012 and 2013 (N = 1824), we investigated the relationship between SSS and prescriptions for analgesic drugs. We found that higher levels of SSS significantly predicted lower odds of participants having been prescribed at least one analgesic drug in the previous six months. We obtained this result even after controlling for OSS-related variables (education, occupational status and geographical location) and demographic variables (age and gender). This suggests that, just like the relationship between SSS and general health, SSS has important effects on pain that go beyond the influence of OSS.
authors: a School of Psychology , University of Dundee , Dundee DD1 4HN , UK.
authors: Juliet Ruth Helen
authors: JR
authors: Wakefield
authors: a School of Psychology , University of Dundee , Dundee DD1 4HN , UK.
authors: Fabio
authors: F
authors: Sani
authors: b Department of Population Health Sciences , University of Dundee , The Mackenzie Building, Kirsty Semple Way, Dundee DD2 4BF , UK.
authors: Vishnu
authors: V
authors: Madhok
authors: c Craigmillar Medical Group , 106 Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh EH16 4DT , UK.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Norbury
authors: a School of Psychology , University of Dundee , Dundee DD1 4HN , UK.
authors: Pat
authors: P
authors: Dugard
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000700:Analgesics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012606:Scotland; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000700:Analgesics
keywords: analgesics; health; objective socio-economic status; pain; psychosocial determinants of pain; socio-economic status; subjective socio-economic status