Chronic Pain Increases with Added Weight.

• Position: OBESITY

Overweight adults are more likely to suffer from chronic pain, indicates a study at Washington State University, Spokane. Teresa Bigand, a doctoral student in the College of Nursing, used data from nine, large-scale health studies conducted in different countries to calculate the odds of chronic pain among adults with an overweight body mass index.

She found adults with a BMI greater than or equal to 25, the range of overweight and obese people, were anywhere from 14% to 71% more likely to suffer from a variety of chronic pain conditions than adults with a BMI below 25.

Although evidence clearly indicates that being overweight is associated with chronic pain conditions, the prevalence of chronic pain among adults with an overweight BMI compared to those with a normal BMI worldwide is unclear, especially when overweight status is distinguished from obesity.

"I think we need to do a better job of educating overweight people about their risk of potentially developing a chronic pain condition in addition to heart disease and other debilitating ailments," says Bigand.

Worldwide obesity nearly has tripled since 1975, and the number of overweight adults has increased significantly as...