Weekly musculoskeletal pain on the rise among young adults
Research from Finland shows an increase in the prevalence of frequent musculoskeletal symptoms in young adults, which suggests the need for early intervention.
“If the trend of increasing musculoskeletal symptoms in young adults is continuing, it is possible that in the future, there will be more chronic and prolonged pain problems with working age population and with elderly people”, say the researchers, led by Airi Oksanen (Turku University Hospital)
“As preventive programs could be effective in an individual level, but also cost-effective on the level of society, they should be studied carefully in young adults.”
The team compared four cross-sectional samples of undergraduate students younger than 35 years of age who completed extensive questionnaires on physical, mental and social health and health behaviour. The samples comprised 3174 individuals in 2000, 3153 in 2004, 2750 in 2008 and 2425 in 2012. Women were over-represented in each sample, at 54% to 74% compared with 38% to 53% of men.
All types of pain increased significantly from 2000 to 2012. The most common weekly pain symptom and the one that increased the most...
