Demographic and Sociological Approaches to Population Pain: Trends, Disparities, and the Role of Upstream Factors

This webinar was produced by the International Association for the Study of Pain's Social Aspects of Pain Special Interest Group (SocSIG).
                                                                                        
This webinar - which took place on 27 April 2023 - examined demographic and sociological aspects of chronic pain - with a special focus on pain trends and disparities in the US and worldwide - and on the role of upstream macro-level factors in shaping these pain outcomes. The presenters:

1) Reviewed the role of chronic pain as a holistic measure of population health - focusing on its strong links to both physical and mental aspects of health - to help understand the sometimes paradoxical findings about pain at the population level;
2) Presented recent findings on sociodemographic inequalities in pain and their potential drivers, with a focus on less commonly studied social groups (e.g., sexual minorities, multiracial individuals, etc.); and
3) Used evidence from comparative studies to highlight the importance of "upstream" factors - in particular national and subnational contexts - in understanding pain trends and disparities.

Participants included:

• Anna Zajacova, PhD, University of Western Ontario, Canada
• Hanna Grol-Prokopczyk, PhD, University at Buffalo, SUNY, USA
• Adam Hirsh, PhD, Indiana University, USA (moderator)

Learning Objectives:
1) Conceptualizing pain as a holistic measure of population health.
2) Understanding the role of upstream macro-level factors - in particular national and sub-national level contexts - and their role in population pain patterns.
3) Appreciating how these two aspects of pain, and its causes, help explain social patterning of pain over time and across population groups - including among racial/ethnic minorities and sexual minorities.