Chronic pain occurs in about 20% of the general population and can often limit the activities of those who experience it. Studies have shown that Canadian Veterans are more than twice as likely to report chronic pain than other Canadians.

What is this Research About?

This study looks at how common chronic pain is among Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Veterans and examines the characteristics of those who have it. The study also takes a closer look at the Veterans whose pain had little or no impact on their activities.

What did the Researchers Do?

The researchers used data from 2019 Life After Service Studies (LASS) survey and analyzed the information about chronic pain and Veteran characteristics. The 2019 survey was conducted by Statistics Canada and asked CAF Regular Force Veterans released between 1998-2018 about their military service, transition to civilian life and overall well-being.

What did the Researchers Find?

Of the 2,411 Regular Force Veterans in the survey data, half reported chronic pain (50.7%). Of these, moderate pain intensity was the most commonly reported (61.2%), followed by mild (21.9%), and severe pain intensity (16.9%).

Female Veterans were slightly more likely to report chronic pain than male Veterans (54% vs 50.1%)

Compared to Veterans without chronic pain, those reporting chronic pain were slightly older (mean age was 50.7 years vs 49.3) and were more likely to have:

• disabilities or report being “on disability” benefits as a “main activity”
• health-related activity limitations
• lower education levels and lower income
• both physical and mental health conditions
• thought about suicide in the past 12 months
• served as non-commissioned members and/or in the Army
• served more years in the military

About one fifth (20.3%) of Veterans with moderate or severe levels of pain reported that their pain limited “no or few” of their activities. These Veterans were more likely to:

• be in the 50-59 years age group
• be female
• have higher education
• be employed
• have a strong sense of community belonging and high levels of social support
• have served at a higher rank
• have served 20+ years
• be satisfied with their family, main activity, and finances
• report high levels of mastery (feeling in control of factors affecting one’s life)

Findings from this research suggest that services for Veterans with chronic pain should involve clinicians from multiple disciplines; and not only consider health status but other well-being factors as well such as employment/meaningful activity, finances, life skills/prepared­ness, and social integration.

The strong association between mastery and activities limited by pain, points to the value of targeted supports in this area, and also to the value of further research investigating the relationships between mastery, pain inter­ference, and function.

Source

Nazari G, Reyes-Vélez J Thompson J, Sweet J, and Miller J. Well-being of Veterans with chronic pain with fewer activities limited by pain: Life After Service Studies 2019 survey

Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health. May 2023. https://doi.org/10.3138/jmvfh-2022-0030