Association of nonpharmacologic chronic pain management with function in a low-income population: Evidence from a survey of a sample of Latinos from five states

Background: Low-income minority populations often confront barriers to professional nonpharmacologic management of chronic pain and, without this care, may have poorer daily function. Objective: To examine the association of professional nonpharmacologic chronic pain management in the past year categorized as physical interventions or mind-body interventions with current functional status. Design: Online, population-based survey. Setting: Community-dwelling Latinos from five southwestern states (California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico). Participants: The survey was offered to all Latino online panel members aged 35 to 75 years in 5 states (N = 1007). With weights, this sample represented 11,016,135 persons. Of 516 respondents (51%), 486 (94%) had valid surveys and, of these, 102 members (21%) had chronic noncancer pain. With weights, they represented 1,140,170 persons with chronic pain. Interventions: Not applicable. Main outcome measures: Daily impairment in mobility and in activities of daily living (ADLs). Results: Of the weighted sample, 37.2% reported daily impairment in mobility and 29.4% in ADLs. Professional physical interventions for chronic pain were received by 41.2% and mind-body interventions received by 33.4% but usually with physical interventions. Adjusted odds ratios (AOR) of daily mobility impairment for respondents who used physical interventions with mind-body interventions or alone were both less than 0.10 (p <.01) versus none. Only professional physical intervention was associated with decreased odds for daily impairment in ADLs (AOR = 0.07; 95% confidence interval = 0.01 to 0.94; p =.045). Conclusions: In a weighted sample of Latinos with chronic pain, professional physical interventions reduced the likelihood of daily impairment in mobility and ADLs.