Prevalence and influencing factors of chronic pain in middle-aged and older adults in China: results of a nationally representative survey

Abstract

BackgroundWith China's rapidly aging population, chronic pain has become a major public health issue. This article aims at determining associations between chronic pain and multiple factors, including demographic characteristics, health status, and health service utilization of middle-aged and older adults in China.MethodsWe selected all the 19,829 respondents who were over 45 years old from the China Health and Aging Tracking Survey 2018 (CHARLS) as our study population. The key information in terms of the body pain, demographic characteristics, health status, behaviors and health services use was extracted and analyzed. Logistic regression model was used to determine the influencing factors of chronic pain.ResultsAnalysis revealed that 60.02% (9,257) of the data from this survey reported physical pain, with pain sites concentrated at the head (40.9%), lower back (62.2%) and knees (47.2%). Pain was positively associated with influencing factors for pain: being a female (OR = 2.10, 95% CI 1.90–2.33, p < 0.001), living in a western region (OR = 1.28, 95% CI 1.16–1.41, p < 0.001), living in a rural area (OR = 1.14, 95% CI 1.06–1.23, p < 0.001), smoked (OR = 1.26, 95% CI 1.14–1.38, p < 0.001), drank alcohol (OR = 1.16, 95% CI 1.06–1.26, p = 0.001), and had poor self-rated health (OR = 6.84, 95% CI 5.41–8.65, p < 0.001), had hearing problems (OR = 1.23, 95% CI 1.11–3.37, p < 0.001), were depressed (OR = 1.56, 95% CI 1.03–1.29, p < 0.001), had arthritis (OR = 2.21, 95% CI 2.02–2.41, p < 0.001), stomach disorders (OR = 1.69, 95% CI 1.55–1.85, p < 0.001), visited a Western medicine hospital (OR = 1.28, 95% CI 1.10–1.50, p = 0.002), and visits to other medical institutions (OR = 1.42, 95%CI 1.22–1.64, p < 0.001). On the other side, as a protective factor for pain, having nighttime sleep ≥7 h (OR = 0.74, 95%CI 0.68–0.80, p < 0.001) was negatively associated with pain.ConclusionPhysical pain affects many older adults. Women, regional, rural residents, smokers, alcohol drinkers, people with poor self-rated health, those having <7 h of sleep at night, those with hearing problems, depression, arthritis, stomach disorders, and people who visits Western hospitals or other medical institutions are at greater risk for pain and deserve the attention of health care providers and policy makers to focus on pain prevention and management in middle-aged and older adults. Future research studies should also focus on the impact of health literacy on pain prevention and management outcomes.

Neuroplasticity in the pathogenesis and treatment of chronic pain syndrome: new research and therapeutic perspectives

“…Studies have shown a two-way connection between back pain and serious depression in US adults, indicating a shared neuroplasticity process that underlies their link [46]. A combined analysis of two national aging cohort studies has further supported the connection between pain and symptoms of depression, indicating that individuals with pain are at a higher risk of developing depressive symptoms and vice versa [47,48]. These studies provide vital insights into the complicated link between chronic pain and neuroplasticity, highlighting the interaction between persistent pain conditions and the brain's adaptive modifications.…”

Global trends and development of acupuncture for stroke: A review and bibliometric analysis

“…A variety of age groups, including adolescents and elderly people, suffer from pain. A recent large-scale national cross-sectional study [63] showed that 60.02% of middle-aged and elderly people in China had experienced body pain. Another study, which included data from 42 countries and territories, showed that 23.6% of adolescents reported experiencing localized specific single-site pain.…”

Examining the impact of chronic diseases on activities of daily living of middle-aged and older adults aged 45 years and above in China: a nationally representative cohort study

“…This study also has some limitations; information on the prevalence of chronic diseases and ADL impairment was obtained by self-report, which may be subject to recall bias. However, the present study was able to reduce recall bias to a greater extent by using a scientific and well-recognized scale to measure ADL impairment in middle-aged and older adults and by using self-reported illnesses diagnosed by healthcare institutions as the study factor ( 14 ). Therefore, the likelihood of recall bias is small, and the results have a certain degree of reliability.…”

“…The product of the basic and adjusted weights was used to obtain a combined weight for each individual to represent the probability of its true occurrence in the aggregate. To make the data a better representation, the weighting considers a number of factors, including the sampling design, missingness, non-response rate, non-coverage, geographical location, gender, age, and socioeconomic characteristics ( 14 ). The ethical approval for the CHARLS project was received from the Ethics Review Committee of Peking University, and informed consent was obtained from all participants during the data collection.…”