Browsing by Author "Fagerlund, Pi"

Abstract Background: Pain is known to be socio-economically patterned and associated with disability. However, knowledge is scarce concerning life-course socio-economic circumstances and pain among young adults. Our aim was to examine the associations of childhood and current socio-economic circumstances with acute pain and chronic pain with low and high disability levels among young Finnish municipal employees. Methods: We analyzed questionnaire data retrieved from the Young Helsinki Health Study (n=4683) covering 18–39-year-old employees of the City of Helsinki, Finland. We included a comprehensive set of indicators of childhood and current socio-economic circumstances and examined their associations with acute pain and with chronic pain with low and high disability levels. The level of chronic pain–related disability was assessed by the Chronic Pain Grade Questionnaire. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted with stepwise adjustments for socio-demographic, socio-economic and health-related covariates. Results: Childhood and current socio-economic disadvantage were associated with acute and chronic pain, particularly with chronic pain with high disability level. The strongest associations after adjustments for covariates remained between chronic pain with high disability level and low education level (OR 3.38, 95% CI 2.18–5.24), manual occupation (OR 3.75, 95% CI 1.92–7.34) and experiencing frequent economic difficulties (OR 3.07, 95% CI 2.00–4.70). Conclusions: Pain is highly prevalent already among young employees and there is a socio-economic gradient in both pain chronicity and chronic pain–related disability. Life-course socio-economic determinants of pain should be considered in pain-preventing strategies and in clinical practice.