New paper on chronic back pain and headaches in the working population published in Journal of Health Psychology

Chronic back pain and headaches are among the most common health complaints, yet little is known about how widespread and burdensome they are among working people. In this paper, we used a nationwide survey of 4,751 employed people in Germany to examine the prevalence and severity of chronic back pain and headaches, the burden associated with them, and related demographic and psychosocial factors. Overall, 34.4% reported mild, 25.1% moderate, and 13.0% (very) severe chronic back pain; for headaches, the figures were 35.6%, 20.1%, and 10.8%. Sex, sleep problems, and burnout symptoms were the strongest and most consistent correlates across all pain indicators, while age was associated with symptom severity. Our findings suggest that chronic pain in the workforce may be more widespread than previously assumed and that sleep problems and burnout are potentially modifiable targets for prevention.

Read the paper: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13591053261437575