Prevalence and Predictors of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain in the Population of Punjab.

The information about prevalence and associated risk factors of musculoskeletal pain remains to be examined in the population of Punjab, India, the present cross sectional study examined 493 subjects from tertiary health care hospitals of Punjab to examine the prevalence and predictors of chronic musculoskeletal pain. Musculoskeletal disorders and associated chronic pain was assessed by Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) and Numerical rating Scale (NRS). Depression, cognition and sleep quality was examined using Patients Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) respectively. The prevalence of mild, moderate and severe pain was observed to be 15.41, 20.69 and 21.10percent in women, which is 1.59 to 1.87folds higher (P23 kg/m2,low income group, sedentary life style, low density lipoprotein (LDL) >100 mg/dl, triglycerides (TG) >150 mg/dl, statin use, depression and poor sleep quality (P 23kg/m2, depression and poor sleep quality emerged as independent predictors of chronic musculoskeletal pain. The present study revealed that higher prevalence of pain in musculoskeletal disorders is evident in the population of Punjab, especially in women and majority of these patients remain undiagnosed for significant concomitants.