One thing that is never considered in an insurance settlement is the fact that 10 year survival may be less in people with severe pain. A recent article plots a survival decay curve
Severe chronic pain is associated with increased 10 year mortality. A cohort
record linkage study. Nicola Torrance et al. European Journal of Pain (in press) abstract here
Interestingly, there is a “dose-response” – mild pain is not detrimental to survival while severe is.
Their reasoning?
Cardiovascular disease: – “Even after adjustment for long-term limiting illness, deaths caused by ischaemic heart disease remained significantly associated with reporting of severe chronic pain: these individuals were almost three times more likely to have died of IHD [ischemic heart disease – ie. heart attack disease] compared to the Mild Chronic Pain group. ”
Respiratory disease – though linked, they could not tell if this was pre-existing
Both of above are very strong reasons why people with chronic pain should not smoke…
Previously, it had been noted that cases of widespread pain man not fair well:
The course of non-malignant chronic pain: a 12-year follow-up of a cohort from the general population H. Ingemar Andersson
European Journal of Pain 8 (2004) 47–53 abstract here
Their explanation?
“From our data the cause of death could not be elucidated, but a comprehensive study of 6569 individuals from England with an observational period of 8 years showed a connection of report of widespread pain and mortality in cancer. The excess cancer mortality remained after exclusion of
people in whom cancer had been diagnosed before the initial survey and after adjustment for potential confounding factors. ”
Comment – chronic pain is hard on one’s physical being, and the elements of stress, weight, lack of exercise, diet, and cigarette smoking may all have major detrimental effects on the mortality of people in chronic pain. You must look after yourself harder than other people…
Addendum:
Korean Circ J. 2010 Feb;40(2):74-80. Epub 2010 Feb 23.
Assessment of myocardial function in patients with fibromyalgia and the relationship to chronic emotional and physical stress.
Cho KI, Lee JH, Lee HG, Kim SM, Kim TI. abstract
Article in press has associated Heart (LV) strain in Fibromyalgia with:
- Severity Fibromylagia (FIQ score)
- chronic emotional or physical stress
Comments – suggests to me that people in chronic pain need to live a very low stress existence – something that is not going to happen with insurance companies on their case…any comments?