Abstract
Chronic pain is a leading cause of disability and is a limiting factor in individuals' assessments of their own subjective health; however, the association between pain and assessments of one's longevity has not yet been explored. Subjective life expectancy (SLE) predicts health and financial planning through its association with actual mortality and psychological wellbeing. This study assesses whether pain is associated with lower SLE among participants aged 50+ in the Health and Retirement Study (N=17,399). We conducted four sequential OLS regressions with the final model controlling for 12 sociodemographic, health, and psychological distress variables in addition to a composite variable measuring pain presence, intensity, and interference. The final OLS model indicates that pain predicts lower subjective probabilities of living an additional 10-25 years. Compared to individuals with no pain, those with interfering moderate to severe pain reported lower SLEs (b = -6.75, p < .001). Participants with interfering pain reported the lowest SLE, regardless of pain intensity. We discuss avenues for improving participants' SLEs and make recommendations for future research.
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