Characteristics of pain and interferences in aspects of life in adults with chronic neck pain

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES  Chronic neck pain (CNP) is a disabling condition that still lacks clarification about its characteristics and interference in aspects of life. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of pain and interference with aspects of life in adults with CNP.

METHODS  Cross-sectional study carried out in a health service, from September to December 2022. 134 adults (18 to 59 years old) participated, regardless of gender, complaining of neck pain (> 3 months). A questionnaire was applied to collect sociodemographic and lifestyle variables, and the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) was used to measure intensity and interference in aspects of life. Descriptive analyzes were performed using SPSS Statistics version 23.0.

RESULTS  The average age was 28 years old, and the highest proportion was female (78.4%; n=105), low social class (53.7%; n=72) and without paid work (52.6%; n=70). Regarding lifestyle, more than half consumed alcoholic beverages (56.7% n=76) and practiced physical activity (62.7% n=84). Furthermore, 50% (n=67) declared that they did not sleep well, averaging 6 hours/night. Regarding the characteristics of pain and its interference, an average of 5.19 ± 2.17 was found for pain intensity, with mood (4.5 ± 3.7) and sleep (4.4 ± 3.6) as activities that suffered the most interference.

CONCLUSION  People with CNP had predominantly moderate pain intensity, with also moderate interference in various aspects of life, mainly mood and sleep, which could cause harm to quality of life.

Keywords:
Adult; Neck pain; Chronic pain; Quality of life

HIGHLIGHTS

Most of the participants were women from lower social classes and had no paid work. This female predominance and socioeconomic vulnerability highlighted the need for targeted interventions and public policies aimed at this demographic group, which may be more susceptible to painful conditions due to social and economic factors

More than half of the participants reported drinking alcohol and practicing physical activity. These habits can have significant implications for the perception and management of pain

A significant proportion of the participants reported sleep problems, with an average of only 6 hours of sleep per night. This is crucial, as the quality of sleep is closely linked to the perception of pain

The pain intensity reported by the participants was moderate, and the same perception was also found in the interference with aspects of life in relation to sleep and mood. These results highlighted the importance of a multidimensional treatment approach for improving QoL