People who report having chronic widespread pain are less likely to report their symptoms as disabling if they also report regularly consuming alcohol, suggesting an undiscovered link between alcohol use and pain severity, according to research published in Arthritis Care & Research.
In a population-based study in the United Kingdom, Dr. Gary J. Macfarlane and his coinvestigators examined self-reported data from 13,574 participants (mean age 55 years, 57% female), of whom 16.5% (n = 2,239) had chronic widespread pain (CWP). Potential confounding factors for which information was available included age, gender, cigarette smoking status, employment status, weight, height, and level of deprivation, noted Dr. Macfarlane of the University of Aberdeen (Scotland).
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The prevalence of CWP Disability index scores for the proportion of persons who never drank alcohol regularly (at least once per week for 1 month or longer) and who had disabling pain was 47.2%, and the percentage decreased to 18.6% as alcohol consumption increased to 21-35 drinks per week, a difference that remained statistically significant even after adjusting for potential confounders (adjusted odds ratio, 0.33; 95% confidence interval, 0.19-0.58). However, the 51.1% rate of disabling pain in people with very high alcohol consumption (greater than 35 alcoholic drinks per week) was similar to those who did not consume any alcohol (adjusted OR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.37-1.68). The investigators also found a similar relationship between reported CWP and level of alcohol consumption such that individuals who drank 21-35 drinks per week were 24% less likely to report having CWP (adjusted OR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.61-0.94).
The authors noted that very few studies have explored the link between reporting chronic pain and alcohol consumption, but cautioned that more studies will be needed to further explore the connection.
“The available evidence, from two studies, does not allow us to conclude that the association is causal: It should not be interpreted that alcohol has a therapeutic benefit,” they wrote.
Read the full article here: Arthritis Care & Research. 2015. doi: 10.1002/acr.22604.