ArticlePloS one2022
Economic burden of chronic pain in Alberta, Canada.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Social dimensions as explanatory approaches for the development of chronic pain: a meta-ethnography of qualitative studies.International journal for equity in health · 2025Pooled it
- Historical Drug Costs Among Elderly Patients Hospitalized with Heart Failure in Canada, 2013-2014 to 2018-2019.CJC open · 2026Article
- "You know, we're all human beings": A qualitative study on the perceived needs of people experiencing chronic pain with regard to physiotherapy services.Canadian journal of pain = Revue canadienne de la douleur · 2026Article
- Validation of heart rate measured by the consumer-level wearable device Fitbit: a cross-sectional observational study.Journal of physical therapy science · 2025Article
- Methadone Prescribing Patterns at a Single Institution: A Retrospective Study and Clinical Implications.Psychopharmacology bulletin · 2025Article
- Longitudinal associations between pain and cognitive decline in middle-aged and older Chinese adults: the mediating role of depressive symptoms.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Mechanisms and clinical progress of spinal cord stimulation in refractory chronic pain: an overview.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Review
- Treated versus self-reported prevalence of chronic pain and costs of patients' health services utilization: a population-based study of health administrative databases.British journal of pain · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough chronic pain (CP) is common, little is known about its economic burden in Alberta, Canada.
aimsTo estimate incremental (as compared to the general population or people without CP) societal (healthcare and lost productivity) costs of CP in Alberta.
methodsWe applied the prevalence estimated from the Canadian Community Health Survey data to the population retrieved from the Statistics Canada to estimate the number of people with CP in Alberta in 2019. We analyzed the Alberta Health administrative databases to estimate the healthcare costs of person with CP. Finally, we multiplied the number of people with the cost per person.
resultsThe prevalence of any CP was 20.1% and of activity-preventing CP was 14.5% among people aged > = 12 years. Incremental cost per person with CP per year was CA$2,217 for healthcare services (among people aged > = 12 years) and CA$8,412 for productivity losses (among people aged 18-64 years). Of the healthcare cost, prescription drugs accounted for the largest share (32.8%), followed by inpatient services (31.0%), outpatient services (13.1%), physician services (9.8%), other services (7.4%), and diagnostic imaging (5.8%). Provincially, total incremental cost of CP ranges from CA$1.2 to 1.7 billion for healthcare services (6% to 8% of total provincial health expenditure); and CA$3.4 to 4.7 billion for productivity losses. Considering costs for long-term care services, the total societal cost of CP in Alberta was CA$6.3 to 8.3 billion per year, reflecting 2.0% to 2.7% of Alberta's GDP.
conclusionsInterventions improving CP prevention and management to reduce this substantial economic burden are urgently needed.
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