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Developing a picture of neck, shoulder and arm pain in Ireland:secondary analysis of the PRIME chronic pain in Ireland dataset

Chronic pain is a very significant and costly problem nationally and internationally. The total cost of chronic pain in Ireland is estimated to be 4.7bn annually. The PRIME Chronic pain in Ireland study (Raftery 2011) was a HRB funded large scale survey of 3000 Irish members of the public, which asked questions about chronic pain, its location, duration, and a number of associated factors such as anxiety, depression and effect of pain on work. The prevalence of chronic pain in this survey was 35.5%, increasing in older adults and in manual workers. Many of these had high disability because of pain, with 12% unable to work and 15% suffering symptoms of depression. This valuable set of data has not yet been fully evaluated in relation to pain from specific parts of the body. This project aims to use the data from the PRIME study to address a number of specific questions in relation to the prevalence, severity and factors associated with chronic neck, shoulder and arm pain in the Irish population. This data will provide a clearer picture of the impact of neck, shoulder and arm pain in Ireland and help to inform preventative interventions and treatment planning for these conditions.