Life satisfaction and chronic musculoskeletal pain at the baseline of ELSA-Brasil MSK

ABSTRACT Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between life satisfaction and the presence and severity of chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP). Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 2,756 participants (mean age: 55.8 years, standard deviation [SD]=8.9 years) at the baseline of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health Musculoskeletal cohort (2012-2014) completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale and were assessed for CMP (duration>6 months) at neck, shoulders, upper back, elbows, lower back, wrists/hands, hips/thighs, knees, and ankles/feet. CMP phenotypes were identified based on measures that considered pain-related disability (non-disabling/disabling), pain demand for a healthcare professional (non-troublesome/troublesome), and body pain spreading according to the number of sites (0, 1-2, and ≥3, multisite) and the number of regions (upper limbs, lower limbs, and axial skeleton) affected (0, 1-2, 3, generalized). The association of life satisfaction with CMP and each CMP phenotype was investigated by binomial and multinomial logistic regression analyses adjusted for sociodemographic lifestyle and clinical confounders. Results: Greater life satisfaction was associated with lower chances of CMP (odds ratio [OR]=0.95; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.94-0.97), as well as across all CMP phenotypes. The strength of this association was slightly greater for disabling CMP (OR=0.94; 95%CI 0.92-0.96) compared to non-disabling CMP (OR=0.97; 95%CI 0.95-0.99), and for troublesome CMP (OR=0.96; 95%CI 0.94-0.97) compared to non-troublesome CMP (OR=0.94; 95%CI 0.94-0.98). This association also held true when considering individuals experiencing multisite pain (OR=0.93; 95%CI 0.91-0.95) compared to those with pain at 1-2 sites (OR=0.97; 95%CI 0.95-0.99), and considering generalized pain (OR=0.93; 95%CI 0.90-0.96) compared to pain in 1-2 regions (OR=0.96; 95%CI 0.95-0.98). Conclusion: Greater life satisfaction seems to decrease the chances of experiencing any, and especially more severe, CMP.