ORIGINAL PAPER
Analysis of racial/ethnic differences in pain perception, quality of life, and self-efficacy among chronic neck pain patients
 
More details
Hide details
1
Faculty of Health Sciences, MAHSA University, Jenjarom, Malaysia
 
 
Submission date: 2021-07-02
 
 
Acceptance date: 2021-09-02
 
 
Publication date: 2022-09-26
 
 
Physiother Quart. 2022;30(3):13-18
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Perception of pain can be influenced by biological, cognitive, and psychological factors in chronic pain conditions. Racial/ethnic disparity has been reported in the prevalence, severity, and outcome of pain. The study aim was to compare pain intensity, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and self-efficacy in chronic neck pain (CNP) subjects of different ethnic groups.

Methods:
Overall, 64 subjects with CNP were recruited and allocated into 3 groups: Malay (21), Chinese (23), and Indian (20). Baseline data were collected with the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ), Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), and Numeric Rating Scale (NRS). A comparative research design served to compare pain intensity, HRQoL, and self-efficacy in the CNP subjects of the different ethnic groups.

Results:
In NRS, the Chinese group reported higher pain intensity in categories of least pain intensity and average pain intensity. PSEQ data on current pain intensity and worst pain intensity showed high ratings of both categories in the Malay and Indian groups. The Indian group exhibited more pain relief seeking behaviour than the Malay group (40.52 ± 9.85). In SF-36, the p-value for mental health was 0.19, which suggests low mental health, i.e., higher catastrophization when dealing with chronic pain.

Conclusions:
Significant ethnic differences were reported in the parameters of pain perception, HRQoL, and self-efficacy among the Chinese, Malay, and Indian groups. Pain perception and duration play a minor role in perceived HRQoL, whereas pain perception relates more to the outcome of perceived disability.

 
REFERENCES (30)
1.
Louw A, Zimney K, Puentedura EJ, Diener I. The efficacy of pain neuroscience education on musculoskeletal pain: a systematic review of the literature. Physiother Theory Pract. 2016;32(5):332–355; doi: 10.1080/09593985.2016.1194646.
 
2.
Shariat A, Cardoso JR, Cleland JA, Danaee M, Ansari NN, Kargarfard M, et al. Prevalence rate of neck, shoulder and lower back pain in association with age, body mass index and gender among Malaysian office workers. Work. 2018;60(2):191–199; doi: 10.3233/WOR-2738.
 
3.
Hoy D, March L, Woolf A, Blyth F, Brooks P, Smith E, et al. The global burden of neck pain: estimates from the Global Burden of Disease 2010 Study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2014;73(7):1309–1315; doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2013-204431.
 
4.
Vos T, Abajobir AA, Abate KH, Abbafati C, Abbas KM, Abd-Allah F, et al. Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 328 diseases and injuries for 195 countries, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet. 2017;390(10100):1211–1259; doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32154-2.
 
5.
Naik PP, Haval PD, Deodhar PP. Effect of ergonomic advice on neck pain among engineering students of Belagavi city, Karnataka: an observational study. Int J Med Res Health Sci. 2017;6(6):77–81.
 
6.
McCarberg BH, Stanos S, D’Arcy Y. Back and neck pain. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2012.
 
7.
Martin BI, Deyo RA, Mirza SK, Turner JA, Comstock BA, Hollingworth W, et al. Expenditures and health status among adults with back and neck problems. JAMA. 2008;299(6):656–664; doi: 10.1001/jama.299.6.656.
 
8.
Macdermid JC, Walton DM, Côté P, Santaguida PL, Gross A, Carlesso L, et al. Use of outcome measure in managing neck pain: an international multidisciplinary survey. Open Orthop J. 2013;7:506–520; doi: 10.2174/1874325001307010506.
 
9.
Van der Velde G, Hogg-Johnson S, Bayoumi AM, Côté P, Llewellyn-Thomas H, Hurwitz EL, et al. Neck pain patients’ preference scores for their current health. Qual Life Res. 2010;19(5):687–700; doi: 10.1007/s11136-010-9608-6.
 
10.
Zaki LRM, Hairi NN. A systematic review of the prevalence and measurement of chronic pain in Asian adults. Pain Manag Nurs. 2015;16(3):440–452; doi: 10.1016/j.pmn.2014.08.012.
 
11.
Chan A, Malhotra C, Do YK, Malhotra R, Ostbye T. Self reported pain severity among multiethnic older Singaporeans: does adjusting for reporting heterogeneity matter? Eur J Pain. 2011;15(10):1094–1099; doi: 10.1016/j.ejpain.2011.05.006.
 
12.
Fortier MA, Anderson CT, Kain ZN. Ethnicity matters in the assessment and treatment of children’s pain. Pediatrics. 2009;124(1):378–380; doi: 10.1542/peds.2008-3332.
 
13.
Campbell CM, Edwards RR. Ethnic differences in pain and pain management. Pain Manag. 2012;2(3):219–230; doi: 10.2217/pmt.12.7.
 
14.
Asghari A, Nicholas MK. An investigation of pain self-efficacy beliefs in Iranian chronic pain patients: a preliminary validation of a translated English-language scale. Pain Med. 2009;10(4):619–632; doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4637.2009.00623.x.
 
15.
Shipton EA. The pain experience and sociocultural factors. N Z Med J. 2013;126(1370):7–9.
 
16.
Hernandez A, Sachs-Ericsson N. Ethnic differences in pain reports and the moderating role of depression in a community sample of Hispanic and Caucasian participants with serious health problems. Psychosom Med. 2006;68(1):121–128; doi: 10.1097/01.psy.0000197673.29650.8e.
 
17.
Peacock S, Patel S. Cultural influences on pain. Rev Pain. 2008;1(2):6–9; doi: 10.1177/204946370800100203.
 
18.
Araújo Ruivo M, Corrêa Alves M, da Graça Rodrigues Bérzin M, Bérzin F. Prevalence of pain at the head, face and neck and its association with quality of life in general population of Piracicaba city, Sao Paulo: an epidemiological study. Rev Dor. 2015;16(1):15–21; doi: 10.5935/1806-0013.20150004.
 
19.
Lin R-F, Chang J-J, Lu Y-M, Huang M-H, Lue Y-J. Correlations between quality of life and psychological factors in patients with chronic neck pain. Kaohsiung J Med Sci. 2010;26(1):13–20; doi: 10.1016/S1607-551X(10)70003-6.
 
20.
Pedisic Z, Pranic S, Jurakic D. Relationship of back and neck pain with quality of life in the Croatian general population. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2013;36(5):267–275; doi: 10.1016/j.jmpt.2013.05.012.
 
21.
Leow MK-S, Griva K, Choo R, Wee H-L, Thumboo J, Tai ES, et al. Determinants of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in the multiethnic Singapore population – a national cohort study. PLoS One. 2013;8(6):e67138; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0067138.
 
22.
Sampaio Bonafé FS, Marôco J, Alvares Duarte Bonini Campos J. Pain self-efficacy questionnaire and its use in samples with different pain duration time. Br J Pain. 2018;1(1):33–39; doi: 10.5935/2595-0118.20180008.
 
23.
Mills SEE, Nicolson KP, Smith BH. Chronic pain: a review of its epidemiology and associated factors in population-based studies. Br J Anaesth. 2019;123(2):e273–e283; doi: 10.1016/j.bja.2019.03.023.
 
24.
Williams DR, Rucker TD. Understanding and addressing racial disparities in health care. Health Care Financ Rev. 2000;21(4):75–90.
 
25.
Holopainen R. Biopsychosocial framework – pain impacting life on multiple biopsychosocial domains. Eur J Physiother. 2021;23(5):268–269; doi: 10.1080/21679169.2021.1970966.
 
26.
Holopainen R, Simpson P, Piirainen A, Karppinen J, Schütze R, Smith A, et al. Physiotherapists’ perceptions of learning and implementing a biopsychosocial intervention to treat musculoskeletal pain conditions: a systematic review and metasynthesis of qualitative studies. Pain. 2020;161(6):1150–1168; doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001809.
 
27.
Alghadir AH, Anwer S, Iqbal A, Iqbal ZA. Test-retest reliability, validity, and minimum detectable change of visual analog, numerical rating, and verbal rating scales for measurement of osteoarthritic knee pain. J Pain Res. 2018;11:851–856; doi: 10.2147/JPR.S158847.
 
28.
Howell ER. The association between neck pain, the Neck Disability Index and cervical ranges of motion: a narrative review. J Can Chiropr Assoc. 2011;55(3):211–221.
 
29.
Zailinawati AH, Teng CL, Kamil MA, Achike FI, Koh CN. Pain morbidity in primary care – preliminary observations from two different primary care settings. Med J Malaysia. 2006;61(2):162–167.
 
30.
Ng TP, Lim LCC, Jin A, Shinfuku N. Ethnic differences in quality of life in adolescents among Chinese, Malay and Indians in Singapore. Qual Life Res. 2005;14(7):1755–1768; doi: 10.1007/s11136-005-1741-2.
 
ISSN:2544-4395
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top