Positive psychological well-being predicts lower severe pain in the general population: A 2-year follow-up study of the SwePain cohort
Open accessAbstract
Positive psychology indicators like well-being and life satisfaction may play a pivotal role in pain-related outcomes. In this study, we aimed to examine the prospective associations of positive well-being and life satisfaction with pain severity. This longitudinal study, with a follow-up of 2 years, included 9361 participants (4266 males, 5095 females; mean age: 52.5 years; SD: 17.5) without and with chronic pain (CP) at baseline. All analyses were stratified by the two sub-cohorts—participants without CP (sub-cohort 1) and participants with CP (sub-cohort 2) at baseline. The predictive associations, assessed using ordinal regression in a Generalized Linear Model, were adjusted for baseline potential confounders and reported as odds ratios (ORs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). After adjustments, in sub-cohort 1 positive well-being at baseline was associated with lower severe pain at follow-up compared to participants with severe distress (OR: 0.64; 95% CI 0.49–0.84; p < 0.001). In sub-cohort 2, both positive well-being and life satisfaction at baseline were associated with lower severe pain at follow-up compared to participants with severe distress and not satisfied with life (OR: 0.80; 95% CI 0.65–0.98; p = 0.031 and OR: 0.82; 95% CI 0.69–0.96; p = 0.014, respectively). Positive well-being is predictive of lower pain severity both among participants without and with CP at baseline, whereas life satisfaction was found predictive of lower pain severity only for subjects with CP. Future research should emphasize implementing treatments associated with promoting and maintaining positive well-being and life satisfaction in patients who suffer from chronic pain and in risk populations.
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Positive psychological well-being predicts lower severe pain in the general population.
“Positive psychological well-being predicts lower severe pain in the general population.[28]”
From Mindfulness influences the psycho-social dimension of chronic pain: A randomized controlled clinical trial in Indian context (2023) · cites this paper as [28]
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Pal, A., Mukhopadhyay, P., Biswas, R., & Bhattacharya, D. (2023) · Indian Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_393_23 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“[28] A study found mindfulness to improve mental well-being and quality of life in healthy Indian adults.”
- Authors
- Larsson, B., Dragioti, E., Gerdle, B., & Björk, J.
- Affiliations
- Linköping University (SE)
- Lund University (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Dragioti, Elena
- Venue
- Annals of General Psychiatry
- Published
- 2019-05-31
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 8-8
- ISSN
- 1744-859X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6543656
- OpenAlex
- W2946857486
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3
- FWCI
- 3.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Annals of General Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DiVA (Linkoping University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Lund University Publications (Lund University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Forskningsrådet i Sydöstra Sverige
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health, psychology, and well-being
- Keywords
- positive psychological well-being, life satisfaction, pain intensity, chronic pain, general population, psychological distress, prospective associations
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