The Effect of Obesity on Pain Severity and Pain Interference

Overview

Journal Pain Manag

Specialty Psychiatry

Date 2021 Jun 9

PMID 34102863

Citations 11

Authors

Jade I Basem

Robert S White

Stephanie A Chen

Elizabeth Mauer

Michele L Steinkamp

Charles E Inturrisi

Lisa R Witkin

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Obesity is one of the most prevalent comorbidities associated with chronic pain, which can severely interfere with daily living and increase utilization of clinical resources. We hypothesized that a higher level of obesity, measured by BMI, would be associated with increased pain severity (intensity) and interference (pain related disability). Participant data was pulled from a multisite chronic pain outpatient database and categorized based on BMI. A total of 2509 patients were included in the study. We found significant differences between BMI groups for all pain severity scores (worst, least, average, current) and total pain interference score. Obese patients had significantly higher scores than normal weight patients. We found obesity to be associated with increased pain severity and pain interference.

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