Purpose: The Korean society is afflicted with rapid aging. Aging is a risk factor for pain, and pain can reduce patients' quality of life. Thus, adequate management and monitoring of changing trends accompanying the demographic shift are highly valuable. However, this study was conducted because no studies have investigated the recent changes in the prevalence of pain.
Materials and Methods: The extent of prevalence of pain was determined by questions related to quality of life based on the data derived from Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey (KNHNS) from 2005 to 2016 in Korea. Data analysis was conducted using SURVEYFREQ (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC)
Results: The prevalence of pain in all populations was 30.6% in 2005 and 18.9% in 2016. The average prevalence from 2005 to 2016 was 21.9%. A declining trend occurred over time with an odds ratio of 0.929 per year (95% CI: 0.921-0.938). The prevalence of severe pain was 2.35% in 2005 and 1.88% in 2016. Likewise, a decrease was observed over time, with an odds ratio of 0.920 per year at 95% CI 0.901-0.939. The decline in age-/sex-stratified analysis also showed a statistically significant trend in all groups.
Conclusion: The prevalence of pain in Korean society, based on the KNHNS, has declined since 2005. Such a trend was observed in all ages and genders, and was most significant in the elderly.