Abstract
Objectives To 1) describe the socio-cultural characteristics of people with non-specific musculoskeletal pain (NSMSP) visiting Dutch primary care physiotherapy, and 2) to determine associations between socio-cultural factors and pain intensity, disability, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in people with NSMSP visiting Dutch primary care physiotherapy.
Design Exploratory cross-sectional study.
Setting 35 Dutch primary care physiotherapy facilities.
Participants 1350 patients with NSMSP.
Main outcome measures Participants completed self-reported questionnaires on socio-cultural (e.g., migration background, living situation, education level), demographic (e.g., sex, age), health-related (e.g., smoking, Body Mass Index (BMI)), and pain-related (e.g., analgesics) factors, along with standardized measures for outcomes pain intensity, disability, and HRQoL.
Results After controlling for covariates (sex, age, smoking, BMI, The Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5), co-morbidity, analgesics, and chronic widespread pain), socio-cultural variable migration background was associated with on average higher pain intensity (ß = .447, p < .001), higher disability (ß = 3.997, p < .001), and poorer mental HRQoL (ß = −1.475, p < .001). Unemployment was associated with higher pain intensity (ß = .279, p .028) and lower physical HRQoL (ß = −1.709, p .004). Overall, higher education levels were associated with better outcomes, with on average lower pain intensity found for university (ß = −.731, p < .001) and higher professional education levels (ß = −.358, p .003) compared to no education.
Conclusions Migration background, unemployment and lower education levels were on average associated with poorer pain intensity, disability and HRQoL in people with NSMSP visiting Dutch primary care physiotherapy. Due to the cross-sectional nature of this study, findings should be interpreted with caution.
Contribution of the Paper
This exploratory study found that migration background was associated with on average higher pain intensity (ß = .447, p < .001), greater disability (ß = 3.997, p < .001), and poorer mental health-related quality of life (ß = −1.475, p < .001) in people with non-specific musculoskeletal pain visiting Dutch primary care physiotherapy.
Unemployment was associated with higher pain intensity (ß = .279, p .028) and lower physical health-related quality of life (ß = −1.709, p .004), while higher education levels were associated with overall better non-specific musculoskeletal pain outcomes.
These findings may enhance physiotherapists’ understanding of the impact of socio-cultural factors on pain, disability, and health-related quality of life in non-specific musculoskeletal pain patients, highlighting existing health disparities within this group.