There are of course multiple things that matter to chronic pain patients, but if I would have to make a choice I would say the heaviest is losing their independence in society. In other words, their economic dependency, as they depend on others to survive financially – such as partners, social security or other government institutions. This creates a feeling of just being another number and not an individual with normal human feelings, expectations, or wishes.
Pain Alliance Europe performed a European online survey to identify the economic and work-related problems of chronic pain patients. More than 4400 people from different disease areas responded to this survey.
Interesting first results were presented in a Meeting on June 20th in the European Parliament.
- 50% of the respondents mentioned that their chronic pain prevents them from working
- 44 % of people with chronic pain have had a drop in income of 50 % or more
Significant differences have been found across countries, genders and ages, revealing how the care in the work setting for people with chronic pain is very inconsistent across different European states.
Read also the full report of the Pain Alliance Europe’s Survey “SURVEY ON CHRONIC PAIN and YOUR WORK LIFE”.