Relationship Between Pain and Quality of Life

Abstract:

Pain is associated with many health problems and disturbed functioning and is a common reason for seeking medical care. Chronic pain is expensive, mainly because of the resulting disability and absence from work. Studies throughout the past 2 decades have shown a large variability of prevalence rates of pain. According to 1 comprehensive review, the prevalence of chronic benign pain varies between 2 and 40%, according to the method used in the study and the populations studied. In recent studies, more attention has been paid to the impact of pain on daily living and QOL. There are major differences between men and women in the prevalence and severity of self-reported pain in the population. Quality of life differs by gender and type of pain condition. Patients may benefit from interventions that enhance the use of appropriate pain coping techniques and other strategies to improve QOL. In the presence of chronic pain, the implication is that analgesics, by decreasing pain, may increase QOL. Several recent studies have confirmed this intuitive association. Within the impact of different variables affecting QOL, pain is a known mediator. As well, several variables such as social support, self esteem, coping and personality traits act as a mediator within the relationship between pain and QOL. Some QOL questionnaires do and some others do not include pain domains. The question numbers pertaining pain and the content of questions are different and should be focused in study designs. Also, from different pediatric Generic QOL Measures, Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) has pain domain and some others do not have pain domain.