Table 1 Demographic characteristics of primary health care patients grouped according to presence of chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) (n = 969)

Age (years) mean (SD)

45.6 (10.1)

42.6 (10.2)

˂ 0.01*

 21–30 years

57 (11.3)

66 (17.8)

 31–40 years

88 (17.5)

101 (23.3)

 41–50 years

156 (31.0)

134 (30.9)

 51 years and older

202 (40.2)

121 (27.9)

Missing

14 (2.7)

17 (3.8)

Gender

0.36**

 Female

354 (68.5)

296 (65.7)

 Male

163 (31.5)

156 (34.3)

Marital status

0.13***

 Married/cohabitant

405 (78.6)

348 (77.5)

 Single

74 (14.4)

77 (17.1)

 Divorced/Separated/Widowed

36 (7.0)

24 (5.2)

Missing

2 (0.4)

3 (0.7)

Education

˂ 0.01***

 Primary/secondary school

175 (34.0)

106 (23.5)

 University ˂ 4 years

141 (27.4)

137 (30.4)

 University ˃ 4 years

172 (33.4)

190 (42.1)

 Student/other

27 (5.2)

18 (4.0)

Missing

2 (0.4)

1 (0.2)

 None

28 (5.4)

15 (3.3)

0.12**

 Full time work

358 (69.2)

348 (77.0)

˂ 0.01**

 Part time work

80 (15.5)

57 (12.6)

0.23**

 Under education

33 (6.4)

31 (6.9)

0.80**

 Disability pension

35 (6.8)

3 (0.7)

˂ 0.001**

Receiving benefit payments

369 (71.4)

309 (68.4)

0.33**

Self-assessed economic status

0.02***

 Good

273 (53.2)

277 (61.6)

 Fair

205 (40.0)

153 (34.0)

 Poor

35 (6.8)

20 (4.4)

Missing

4 (0.8)

2 (0.4)

Self-assessed health

˂ 0.001***

 Very good

59 (11.4)

180 (40.0)

 Good

257 (49.8)

231 (51.3)

 Not so good

174 (33.7)

37 (8.2)

 Poor

26 (5.0)

2 (0.4)

Missing

1 (0.2)

2 (0.4)

HRQoL total 15D score mean (SD)

0.88 (0.10)

0.95 (0.06)

˂ 0.001*

 HRQoL total 15D score < 0.9

254 (50.2)

63 (14.1)

˂ 0.001**

Missing

9 (1.7)

6 (1.3)

Current sick leave due to CMP

69 (13.3)

-

Missing

5 (0.9)

-

 0–3 months

37 (53.6)

-

 3–6 months

15 (21.7)

-

 ˃ 6 months

17 (24.6)

-

Missing

5 (0.9)

-