The following is a summary of “Pain Relief and Associated Factors: A Cross-Sectional Observational Web-based Study in a Quebec Cohort of Persons Living with Chronic Pain,” published in the March 2024 issue of Pain by Zerriouh et al.

Randomized trials assess individual pain treatments, while observational studies show broader pain relief experiences in chronic pain sufferers.

Researchers started a retrospective study to examine and identify factors influencing real-world pain relief experiences.

They conducted an exploratory web-based cross-sectional study, utilizing data from 1,419 community participants. Pain relief brought by participant-used treatments was assessed on a 0-100% scale (in 10-unit increments).

The results showed that 18.2% of participants experienced minimal pain relief (0-20%), 60.0% reported moderate to substantial pain relief (30-60%), and 21.8% achieved extensive pain relief (70-100%). Multivariable multinomial regression analysis identified factors significantly linked to increased pain relief, such as reporting a stressful event as the onset of pain, living with pain for ≥10 years, lower pain intensity, reduced catastrophic thinking, prescribed pain medication usage, nonpharmacological pain treatments, access to a trusted healthcare provider, higher general health scores, and polypharmacy. Conversely, factors associated with decreased pain relief included surgery as the onset of pain, over-the-counter pain medication usage, and severe psychological distress.

Investigators concluded that in a chronic pain study, 80% achieved moderate relief, suggesting opportunities to improve well-being.

Source: frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpain.2024.1306479/abstract