Examining the association between pain severity and quality-of-life, work-productivity loss, and healthcare resource use among European adults diagnosed with pain.

AbstractObjective: The goal of this research was to quantify the association between pain severity and several health outcomes in a large sample of patients diagnosed with some form of pain.Methods: Responses from patients who had been diagnosed with some form of pain (n = 14,459) were drawn from the 2013 EU National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS; n = 62,000). Respondents reported their subjective pain severity in the past week on a numerical rating scale (0–10) as well as the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-36), Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire (WPAI), and healthcare resource utilization in the past 6 months (healthcare professional (HCP) visits, emergency room (ER) visits, and hospitalizations). Associations between pain severity and health outcomes were examined via a series of regression models controlling for a set of demographic and health-related covariates.Results: After controlling for demographics and comorbidities, pain severity in the past week was shown to be s...