Severe pain may increase risk of dying early: study

Severe and long-term pain that interferes with daily life may increase the risk of early death in older adults, a new study warns.
In the study, individuals who were often troubled with pain had a 29 per cent increased risk of dying, and those who reported "quite a bit" and "extreme" pain interference had 38 per cent and 88 per cent increased risks, respectively.
Report of any pain or having widespread pain was not associated with an increased risk of mortality, researchers said.
"There is much debate about whether people with persistent pain die prematurely and why this might happen," said Ross Wilkie, from Keele University in the UK.

The study population was drawn from two large population cohorts of adults aged 50 years; the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, with 6324 participants, and the North Staffordshire Osteoarthritis Project, with 10,985 participants.
"Our study sheds new light by showing that it is not the pain itself that increases the risk of death but the amount of disruption of everyday living linked to having long-term pain," said Wilkie, co-author of the study published in the journal Arthritis Care and Research.
"The implication is that society must find ways to help people with long-term pain to live life to the full at work, at home, and in the community," Wilkie said.

Additional studies are needed to determine the mechanisms through which disabling pain may increase the risk of premature death, researchers said.