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Disabling musculoskeletal pain and its relation to somatization: a community-based postal survey

Disabling musculoskeletal pain and its relation to somatization: a community-based postal survey
Disabling musculoskeletal pain and its relation to somatization: a community-based postal survey
Background: Somatization (a tendency to report distress from somatic symptoms) is a little studied, but potentially important, confounder and effect modifier in occupational studies of musculoskeletal disease.
Aims: To assess the role of somatization as a risk factor for disabling regional pain.
Methods: A questionnaire was mailed to 4998 subjects of working age. Questions were asked about chronic and disabling pain in the past 12 months affecting the arm, low back, knee or combinations of these sites. Distress from physical symptoms was assessed using elements of the Brief Symptom Inventory and mental well-being was assessed using the short-form 36 (SF-36). Associations were examined by modified Cox regression and expressed as hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).
Results: Among 2632 responders, 24% reported chronic pain and 25% disabling pain at one or several sites. Risk of chronic or disabling pain increased strongly according to the number of somatic symptoms reported as bothersome. For example, the HR for chronic upper limb pain in those distressed by ?2 somatic symptoms in the past 7 days versus none was 3.9 (95% CI 2.9–5.3), and that of disabling upper limb pain was 5.8 (95% CI 4.1–8.3). Similar patterns were found for the low back and knee, and there was a gradient of increasing risk according to the number of sites with disabling pain. In comparison, associations with SF-36 mental well-being score were weaker.
Conclusion: Somatizing tendency should be evaluated as a possible confounder or effect modifier in studies of occupational risk factors for musculoskeletal pain.
arm pain, mental health, somatizing tendency, widespread pain
0962-7480
612-617
Palmer, Keith T.
0cfe63f0-1d33-40ff-ae8c-6c33601df850
Calnan, Michael
0ae0334c-6fda-40f7-b7d2-86a17c2b6bac
Wainwright, David
d80b7554-da7e-46e8-925e-a1719ee26f2a
Poole, Jason
88c69acd-8ff1-4d82-bd3d-8ea1720557e1
O'Neill, Claire
d9d9fc4c-550f-4799-a48a-c75052d28076
Winterbottom, Anna
87c2fef9-bed7-466f-a9e2-204c1b1202ed
Watkins, Chris
ae7c77c0-84c6-4bcf-9968-b29aa872f0e8
Coggon, David
2b43ce0a-cc61-4d86-b15d-794208ffa5d3
Palmer, Keith T.
0cfe63f0-1d33-40ff-ae8c-6c33601df850
Calnan, Michael
0ae0334c-6fda-40f7-b7d2-86a17c2b6bac
Wainwright, David
d80b7554-da7e-46e8-925e-a1719ee26f2a
Poole, Jason
88c69acd-8ff1-4d82-bd3d-8ea1720557e1
O'Neill, Claire
d9d9fc4c-550f-4799-a48a-c75052d28076
Winterbottom, Anna
87c2fef9-bed7-466f-a9e2-204c1b1202ed
Watkins, Chris
ae7c77c0-84c6-4bcf-9968-b29aa872f0e8
Coggon, David
2b43ce0a-cc61-4d86-b15d-794208ffa5d3

Palmer, Keith T., Calnan, Michael, Wainwright, David, Poole, Jason, O'Neill, Claire, Winterbottom, Anna, Watkins, Chris and Coggon, David (2005) Disabling musculoskeletal pain and its relation to somatization: a community-based postal survey. Occupational Medicine, 55 (8), 612-617. (doi:10.1093/occmed/kqi142).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: Somatization (a tendency to report distress from somatic symptoms) is a little studied, but potentially important, confounder and effect modifier in occupational studies of musculoskeletal disease.
Aims: To assess the role of somatization as a risk factor for disabling regional pain.
Methods: A questionnaire was mailed to 4998 subjects of working age. Questions were asked about chronic and disabling pain in the past 12 months affecting the arm, low back, knee or combinations of these sites. Distress from physical symptoms was assessed using elements of the Brief Symptom Inventory and mental well-being was assessed using the short-form 36 (SF-36). Associations were examined by modified Cox regression and expressed as hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).
Results: Among 2632 responders, 24% reported chronic pain and 25% disabling pain at one or several sites. Risk of chronic or disabling pain increased strongly according to the number of somatic symptoms reported as bothersome. For example, the HR for chronic upper limb pain in those distressed by ?2 somatic symptoms in the past 7 days versus none was 3.9 (95% CI 2.9–5.3), and that of disabling upper limb pain was 5.8 (95% CI 4.1–8.3). Similar patterns were found for the low back and knee, and there was a gradient of increasing risk according to the number of sites with disabling pain. In comparison, associations with SF-36 mental well-being score were weaker.
Conclusion: Somatizing tendency should be evaluated as a possible confounder or effect modifier in studies of occupational risk factors for musculoskeletal pain.

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More information

Published date: 2005
Keywords: arm pain, mental health, somatizing tendency, widespread pain

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 24452
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/24452
ISSN: 0962-7480
PURE UUID: be136d39-3b93-49e4-b87e-586a325c2345
ORCID for David Coggon: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1930-3987

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Date deposited: 31 Mar 2006
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 02:53

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Contributors

Author: Keith T. Palmer
Author: Michael Calnan
Author: David Wainwright
Author: Jason Poole
Author: Claire O'Neill
Author: Anna Winterbottom
Author: Chris Watkins
Author: David Coggon ORCID iD

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