Level of self-reported pain’s interference with work, and association with number of prescriptions and healthcare expenditures

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the associations between pain interfering with work and family income and health status and to quantify the impact of pain on pharmaceutical utilization and cost using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Methods: The study population included adult respondents to a MEPS pain question asking how much pain interfered with normal work (including both work outside the home and housework) from 2007 to 2014 (n = 71 593 respondents). Generalized linear models estimated the association between pain and family income, self-reported health status, number of prescriptions and healthcare expenditures (prescription drug and total). Control variables included age, gender, education, marital status, poverty, race, immigration status, region, obesity, work status and insurance coverage. Key findings: Nearly 43% of respondents reported pain did not interfere at all with their work, 32% responded it did ‘a little bit’, 14% said ‘moderately’, 8% reported ‘quite a bit’, and 3% said ‘extremely’. Older respondents were significantly more likely to report pain interfering with work than younger ones. Women were more likely than men to report pain interfering with work. Obesity was significantly associated with pain, with 5.3% of obese respondents stating pain extremely interfered with work compared to 2.2% of nonobese respondents. Those who reported pain interfered ‘extremely’ had, on average, 46 prescriptions filled per year compared to only 5 prescriptions for those reporting less severe pain. This translated into significantly higher prescription drug and total costs. Conclusion: Innovative targeted interventions are needed to mitigate the severe consequences of pain on health, well-being and cost.