Chronic musculoskeletal pain, prevalence rates, and sociodemographic associations in a Swedish population study

Objective. To estimate the prevalence of chronic regional and widespread mu sculoskeletal pain in a sample of the general adult population and study th e association to age, sex, socioeconomic class, immigration, and housing ar ea. Methods. A cross sectional survey with a postal questionnaire to 3928 inhab itants on the west coast of Sweden. Results. The age and sex adjusted prevalence of chronic regional pain (CRP) was 23.9% and chronic widespread pain (CWP) 11.4% among 2425 subjects who responded to the complete questionnaire. Odds ratio (OR) for CWP showed a s ystematic increasing gradient with age and was highest in the age group 59- 74 yrs (OR 6.36, 95% CI3.85-10.50) vs age group 20-34 yrs. CWP was also ass ociated with female sex (OR 1.91, 95% CI 1.41-2.61), being an immigrant (OR 1.83, 95% CI 1.22-2.77), living in a socially compromised housing area (OR 3.05, 95% CI 1.48-6.27), and being an assistant nonmanual lower level empl oyee (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.09-3.38) or manual worker (OR 2.72, 95% CI 1.65-4.4 9) vs being an intermediate/higher nonmanual employee. OR for CRP showed a systematic increasing gradient with age and was highest in the age group 59 -74 yrs (OR 2.22, 95% CI 1.62-3.05) vs age group 20-34 yrs. CRP was also as sociated with being a manual worker (OR 1.63, 95% CI 1.19-2.23) vs being an intermediate/higher nonmanual employee. Conclusion. Chronic musculoskeletel pain is common in the general populatio n. Sociodemographic variables were overall more frequently and strongly ass ociated with CWP than with CRP, which indicates different pathophysiology i n the development or preservation of pain in the 2 groups.