Chronic Pain Epidemiology. from Aetiology to Public Health

ABOUT THIS BOOK

• The first book in the From Aetiology to Public Health series, examining top public health issues from aetiology through to public health and prevention
• Written by a range of multidisciplinary authors to appeal to clinicians as well as public health specialists, and to researchers and policy makers
• Presents individual conditions as examples of chronic pain, together with chapters that provide overviews on the assessment of pain and methodological issues behind population assessment
• Editorial introductions and sections link the theme of public health and prevention across different chapters, and emphasises new ways of thinking about pain

Chronic pain is a major cause of distress, disability, and work loss, and it is becoming increasingly prevalent through the general move towards an ageing population, which impacts dramatically upon society and health care systems worldwide. Due to improvements in health care, it is becoming more common for patients to continue living with long-term illness or disease (rather than these being terminal). Yet little attention has been paid to chronic pain as a public health problem or to the potential for its prevention, even though it can be studied and assessed using concepts and ideas from classical epidemiology.

This book takes an unusual approach in making a symptom the focus of public health research and policy. Written by leaders in the field of pain, it fills a gap in current literature by presenting chronic pain in terms of cause, impact, consequence and prevention. It presents individual conditions as examples of chronic pain, together with chapters that provide overviews on the assessment of pain and methodological issues behind population assessment.

Chronic Pain Epidemiology - From Aetiology to Public Health provides an invaluable framework and basis for thinking about chronic pain and the potential for its prevention in public health terms. It will appeal to readers from public health, epidemiology and policy perspectives, and those involved in the treatment of pain - such as pain researchers, clinicians and specialists. It will also be an invaluable resource for postgraduate students studying pain management, public health, and epidemiology.

Readership: Readers from public health, epidemiology and policy perspectives, and those involved in the treatment of pain - such as pain researchers, clinicians and specialists. It will also be an invaluable resource for postgraduate students studying pain management, public health, and epidemiology.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contributors

Section 1: Basic ideas
1: Peter Croft, Fiona Blyth, and Danielle van der Windt: Chronic pain as a topic for epidemiology and public health
2: Peter Croft, Fiona Blyth, and Danielle van der Windt: The global occurrence of chronic pain: an introduction
3: Fiona Blyth: The demography of chronic pain: an overview
Appendix to Section 1: Basic epidemiological concepts applied to pain

Section 2: Definition and measurement of chronic pain for population studies
4: Peter Croft, Kate Dunn, Fiona Blyth, and Danielle van der Windt: Introduction
5: Clermont E. Dionne: Measuring chronic pain in populations
6: Heiner Raspe: Measuring the impact of chronic pain on populations: a narrative review
7: Bård Natvig, Camilla Ihlebæk, Yusman Kamaleri, and Dag Bruusgaard: Number of pain sites - a simple measure of population risk?

Section 3: Mechanisms
8: Alex MacGregor: The genetic epidemiology of pain
9: Anthony K.P. Jones, John McBeth, and Andrea Power: The biological response to stress and chronic pain
10: H. Susan J. Picavet: Musculoskeletal pain complaints from a sex and gender perspective

Section 4: Common pain syndromes
11: Peter Croft, Fiona Blyth, and Danielle van der Windt: Introduction
12: Danielle van der Windt: The symptom of pain in populations
13: Helen Boardman: Headache
14: Gareth T. Jones and Adriana Paola Botello: Pain in children
15: Gary J. Macfarlane: Life-course influences on chronic pain in adults
16: Elaine Thomas: Pain in older people

Section 5: Pain and disease
17: Peter Croft: Disease-related pain: an introduction
18: Blair H. Smith and Nicola Torrance: Neuropathic pain
19: Julie Bruce: Post-surgical pain
20: Harry Hemingway, Justin Zaman, and Gene Feder: Chronic chest pain, myocardial ischaemia and coronary artery disease phenotypes
21: Fiona Blyth and Frances Boyle: Cancer and chronic pain

Section 6: Public health and chronic pain
22: Fiona Blyth, Danielle van der Windt, and Peter Croft: Introduction to chronic pain as a public health problem
23: Weiya Zhang and Michael Doherty: Pharmacological treatment: the example of osteoarthritis
24: Gwenllian Wynne-Jones and Chris J. Main: The potential for prevention: occupation
25: Rachelle Buchbinder: Can we change a population's perspective on pain?
26: Peter Croft, Danielle van der Windt, Helen Boardman, and Fiona Blyth: The potential for prevention: overview
Index

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Edited by Peter Croft, Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the Arthritis Research Campaign National Primary Care Centre, Keele University, UK, Fiona M. Blyth, Head of Pain Epidemiology, University of Sydney Pain Management Research Institute, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, Australia, and Danielle van der Windt, Professor in Primary Care Epidemiology, Arthritis Research Campaign National Primary Care Centre, Keele University, UK