Socioeconomic factors, such as years of education, race, and ethnicity, can modify the relationship between SES and body pain. In China, occupation and education are used to approximate SES due to the sensitivity of income-related questions in surveys. Studies from the United States, Singapore, and Germany have found that low SES in adults is associated with chronic pain. A recent review also indicated that disparities based on SES affect pain development and management.
A meta-analysis of 45 studies, covering a population of approximately 175,000 individuals, found that low and medium SES levels were associated with a higher risk of chronic pain compared with high SES levels. The pooled Odds Ratio (OR) for low and medium SES levels was 1.32 (95% CI: 1.21, 1.44) and 1.16 (95% CI: 1.09, 1.23), respectively, compared with high SES levels. These results support a moderate increase in the risk of chronic pain for low and medium SES when compared with high SES, a feature that remained constant in all measures of exposure or outcome used.