Chronic and Acute Pain and Adverse Economic Outcomes in a 9/11-Exposed Cohort

The objective of this study was to determine the association between acute and chronic pain and various economic and quality-of-life outcomes. The study sample was drawn from the World Trade Center Health Registry. Both acute and chronic pain were measured in 2020-2021. Logistic regression models were constructed to determine the odds of several economic and quality-of-life variables: early retirement, low household income, decline in household income, quality of life, and not working due to health. Those who had extreme pain in the last four weeks that interfered with normal work had 3.12 (95% confidence interval (CI): 2.36, 4.39) times the odds of early retirement, 5.34 (95% CI: 3.47, 8.21) times the odds of having a household income below USD 50,000, 2.56 (95% CI: 1.51, 4.33) times the odds of having an income decrease, and 14.4 (95% CI: 11.3, 18.3) times the rate of poor health days compared to those with no pain. Similar results were found for chronic pain. The detrimental effects of pain may influence multiple facets of a patient's life, and both financial and overall well-being may diminish even several years after a pain diagnosis.