Global study tracks pain levels across 118 countries

A massive new study shows that pain levels often peak during working years rather than in old age. The Global Burden of Diseases study does not track pain as a cause of disability. Matthew Fillingim from McGill University in Canada explains that pain has no medical biomarkers, so researchers must ask people about their personal experiences. Dr. Fillingim worked with 98 researchers from 63 institutions around the world. They studied pain experiences from 6.1 million people aged five to 100 years across 118 countries between 1995 and 2005. The team published their results in Nature Medicine.

Context

Pain is a major cause of disability worldwide, yet tracking it remains difficult because doctors rely on patient descriptions rather than physical tests. Large global health studies help researchers understand how conditions like obesity, smoking, income, and geography affect human health.