Abstract
Poverty is an important problem in Germany. The health effects of poverty can lead to ahigher risk of disease and the arising of chronic affections. On the other hand chronic illness may support the development and continuance of poverty. The context of chronic pain and poverty has not been analyzed so far. We investigated the correlation between chronic pain and poverty. In aprospective manner we interviewed 20patients with pain syndromes during our consultation hour regarding their household income. Further, data from the German Federal Statistical Office were analyzed with respect to the correlation between the incidence of achronic pain diagnosis and household income. At 1546 €, the average household income of the patients studied was below the poverty level. The analyzed data showed that women suffered from chronic pain more often than men did and also had alower income. Another economic inequality was found between Eastern and Western Germany. There was astatistically significant correlation between income and the incidence of the diagnostic codes for chronic pain (R52.1, 2, 9) for men. Our investigation showed the correlation between chronic pain and poverty. Acommitment and cooperation of German medical associations and federal politics is necessary to overcome this sociopolitical issue.
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