The Haleon Pain Index
The Haleon Pain Index
Pain is an urgent message from our body, warning us to take action. When we fail to manage our pain, many aspects of our health can suffer.
Our latest release of the Haleon Pain Index (HPI) confirms that pain affects our ability to live healthy, happy lives – when in pain 71% of people exercise less, 68% move less, and 62% struggle to sleep.
Despite this, globally 6 in 10 people wait before treating pain. Only 1 in 3 people seek relief from their pain immediately – most wait a couple of hours to a few days.
Cost of living is another factor that makes a big difference. At least 50% of people admit to previously not buying pain medication or treatment so that they could buy food or pay bills instead.
‘Health literacy’ is a person’s ability to understand and use information to make decisions about their health. And according to the latest HPI survey, it’s one of the biggest barriers stopping people from dealing effectively with pain.
For most people, a health professional (HP) is their first port of call about pain. Yet this is often where confusion stalls our pain management journey. Almost half of people surveyed said they find it difficult to understand information about pain management because doctors use language that’s too scientific.
As well as confusion when talking to doctors, 4 in 10 people struggle to navigate the sheer number of online sources offering pain-related information. It’s hard to know what’s credible too – 1 in 3 people aren’t sure what information they can trust in general.
And 33% of people don’t feel they have the digital skills to find health-related information online, rising to 45% of 75-84-year-olds.
Plus, limited internet access means that globally, 13% of people in pain struggle to access online health-related information, with huge disparities between countries – ranging from Saudi Arabia (31%) and India (28%) to Sweden (5%) and Italy (6%).
These health literacy barriers can make the journey to effective pain management slow and confusing. Uncertainty leads many to wait and push through pain alone – self-managing and self-medicating without knowing if it's the right thing to do.
For example, medication is the most popular action taken to treat pain, chosen by 6 in 10 people globally. But over 4 in 10 people first try to rest or sleep the pain off before treating it with medication or seeing a health professional. 25% of people use physical therapy, such as stretching or exercise. While 20% try adjusting their diet, such as drinking more water, eating healthier food or cutting out caffeine.
The Economist Impact Health Inclusivity Index, research supported by Haleon, also uncovered a financial premium to low health literacy. It can lead to almost 3x higher annual healthcare costs, resulting in more medical visits and more prescription medication.
Better health literacy leads to better health. 57% of people in pain believe that empowering greater health literacy would make a real difference in how they manage pain and deal with its impact on their life.
And when asked, people wished for simpler, more practical, and more accessible information for treating their pain. Which is why we’re strengthening knowledge and access to trusted science, tools, and information for all.
For example, the Voltarol Movement Coach aims to improve patient understanding of how to keep moving and ‘treat it right’. And Haleon’s Listen to Pain initiative aims to equip health professionals to offer empathy as well as treatment – because better conversations can help break through health literacy barriers and empower individuals to manage their own pain more quickly and effectively.
Related
