Abstract:
Rural residency and low socioeconomic status (SES) are associated with increased likelihood of chronic pain. Previous literature suggests numerous pain-related variables vary with age and sex, and research on pain and race indicates that African-Americans (AA) report greater pain in a variety of chronic pain conditions. SES, rurality, and race are correlated, and their impact on the experience of chronic pain is compounded by widespread treatment disparities. This study reports on the pre-treatment demographic and psychosocial characteristics of a virtually unstudied population of rural patients with chronic pain. One-hundred-and-six rural Alabama patients completed validated measures of pain, interference, perceived disability, depression, quality of life, and catastrophizing. Descriptive statistics, hierarchical regression analyses, and exploratory mediation analyses of their psychosocial measures and demographics are presented. Calculated means and standard deviations are reported in reference to published norms. Average age of study participants was 52-years, 78% were female, 77% were AA, 72% reported annual income between 00,000-12,999, and 60% were unemployed. Although average years of education were 12.40, average reading level percentile was 17.35. Results indicate that when the demographic variables are controlled for: 1)Depression significantly predicted quality of life; 2) Both pain intensity and depression predicted pain interference, and depression partially mediated the relation between pain intensity and pain interference; and 3) Pain intensity significantly predicted perceived disability. Surprisingly, none of the demographic variables nor catastrophizing significantly predicted the outcome variables. These preliminary analyses provide insight into demographic and psychosocial factors associated with chronic pain in a low-literacy, low-SES rural population.
