Socio-professional vulnerability and chronic pain: a retrospective pain clinic study

Socio-professional vulnerability and chronic pain: a retrospective pain clinic study | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Socio-professional vulnerability and chronic pain: a retrospective pain clinic study Christian Denaeyer, Jessica Mellier, Léïna Fousse, David Zarka, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8591085/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background: Chronic pain is a complex condition with major clinical and public health implications, including reduced quality of life and limited work participation. This study aimed to analyse the biopsychosocial characteristics of patients treated at a multidisciplinary pain centre to identify key factors that can inform public health strategies. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted using patient records at a multidisciplinary pain centre in Brussels. A random sample of 1000 patients with chronic pain was included. Data collection covered sociodemographic infor- mation and diagnoses. Descriptive analysis and correlation matrix were used to identify key trends. Results: The mean age was 49 (± 13) years, with women comprising 72.8% of the sample. Socioprofessionally, 43.6% were employed, 27.2% disabled and 13.6% unemployed. The median duration of pain before treatment at the multidisciplinary center was 4 years. Chronic musculoskeletal pain was the most common diagnosis (76%). Widespread pain was more frequent in patients with disability, the unemployed, and those in elementary occupations (29.0%, 38.2%, and 38.3%, respectively). Cluster analysis revealed a positive association between widespread pain, depression (r = 0.40, p < 0.001), and female gender (r = 0.29, p < 0.001), and a negative association with musculoskeletal pain (r = -0.34, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Chronic pain disproportionately affects women and vulnerable socio-professional groups of working age, with chronic musculoskeletal pain being the most common diagnosis. Widespread pain is linked to depression, gender and socio-professional vulnerability. Delayed access to specialist care highlights the need for earlier, tailored management strategies to prevent pain chronification. Clinical trial number: not applicable. Chronic pain Socio-professional vulnerability Widespread pain Pain management Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8591085","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":584840726,"identity":"b1736220-cadb-40d2-b334-b180d9a8173c","order_by":0,"name":"Christian 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management","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8591085/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8591085/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eBackground: Chronic pain is a complex condition with major clinical and public health implications, including reduced quality of life and limited work participation. This study aimed to analyse the biopsychosocial characteristics of patients treated at a multidisciplinary pain centre to identify key factors that can inform public health strategies.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMethods: A retrospective analysis was conducted using patient records at a multidisciplinary pain centre in Brussels. A random sample of 1000 patients with chronic pain was included. Data collection covered sociodemographic infor- mation and diagnoses. Descriptive analysis and correlation matrix were used to identify key trends.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eResults: The mean age was 49 (± 13) years, with women comprising 72.8% of the sample. Socioprofessionally, 43.6% were employed, 27.2% disabled and 13.6% unemployed. The median duration of pain before treatment at the multidisciplinary center was 4 years. Chronic musculoskeletal pain was the most common diagnosis (76%). Widespread pain was more frequent in patients with disability, the unemployed, and those in elementary occupations (29.0%, 38.2%, and 38.3%, respectively). Cluster analysis revealed a positive association between widespread pain, depression (r = 0.40, p \u0026lt; 0.001), and female gender (r = 0.29, p \u0026lt; 0.001), and a negative association with musculoskeletal pain (r = -0.34, p \u0026lt; 0.001).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConclusion: Chronic pain disproportionately affects women and vulnerable socio-professional groups of working age, with chronic musculoskeletal pain being the most common diagnosis. Widespread pain is linked to depression, gender and socio-professional vulnerability. Delayed access to specialist care highlights the need for earlier, tailored management strategies to prevent pain chronification.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClinical trial number: not applicable.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Socio-professional vulnerability and chronic pain: a retrospective pain clinic study","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-02-03 14:39:18","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8591085/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"2805beda-c281-4ba0-aa89-6eb1d596d3ea","owner":[],"postedDate":"February 3rd, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-08T07:28:22+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-02-03 14:39:18","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8591085","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8591085","identity":"rs-8591085","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}