Life satisfaction in patients with long-term non-malignant pain relation to demographic factors and pain intensity

Purpose. Life satisfaction can be defined as a measure of a patient's perception of the difference between his reality and his needs or wants. Here we compare life satisfaction in patients with long-term pain to a reference group sampled from the normal population, and relate the results to pain intensity and to demographic factors. Method. Questionnaires containing the Life satisfaction (LiSat-11) checklist, a visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, and questions on demographic background. Results. The prevalence of responders with low level of life satisfaction was larger among the patients than in the reference group. In particular, patients born outside Northern Europe scored significantly lower than patients born in Northern Europe in many of the LiSat-11 domains. Pain intensity did not correlate well to the level of life satisfaction, except for weak negative correlations to satisfaction with physical health and with financial situation. Conclusion. Long-term pain is strongly associated with low life satisfaction. In order to increase life satisfaction, interventions related to social factors seem to be important.