Musculoskeletal health: trends, risk factors and disparities in England

Key messages

This report provides data to expand awareness of disparities in musculoskeletal (MSK) health at a national level. The report supplements OHID’s Musculoskeletal Conditions profile, which provides local data on musculoskeletal prevalence and risk factors to enable commissioners, and other stakeholders, to understand the unique health needs of local populations.

This first release focuses on the prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions across the population while further topics, such as the impact of musculoskeletal conditions on employment, will be added to future releases. Data included in this current release will be updated as new data becomes available.

In 2018, 17.1% of adults reported having a long term musculoskeletal condition which has increased since 2015 (15.4%).
The prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions increased with age from 4.7% of those aged 16 to 24 up to 39.7% for those aged 85 or over.
Women reported a higher prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions (19.5%), arthritis and fibromyalgia (10.4%) and back, spine and neck pain (5.2%), than men (14.2%, 6.0% and 4.2% respectively).
Analysis of survey data combined across 2012 to 2018 showed that prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions varied by ethnicity. People in the Pakistani group reported a higher prevalence (20.8%) than the average for all groups combined (16.4%). Pakistani women (29.1%) were much more likely to report a long term musculoskeletal condition than Pakistani men (12.9%).
Those living in the most deprived areas reported a higher prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions (21.8%) compared with those in the least deprived areas (14.4%), and disparity between the most and least deprived areas was greatest for women (25.4% and 15.9% respectively).
In 2017, 80.9% of people who reported a long term musculoskeletal condition reported having chronic pain and 38.4% reported high interference chronic pain.
Those who were in obese class I and II or obese class III had a higher prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions (20.0% and 28.9% respectively) than the average for England (17.1%). There was also a higher prevalence among those classified as underweight for both long term musculoskeletal conditions (24.6%) and back, spine and neck pain (10.2%).
Those who completed 30 minutes or more of moderate vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per week had a lower prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions (14.0%) compared with those who completed less than 30 minutes (25.6%).

1 Introduction

Good musculoskeletal health is an important component of maintaining a person’s functional abilities throughout life. It is also fundamental to healthy ageing, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has characterised as ‘the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables wellbeing in older age.’

Musculoskeletal conditions can affect people of all ages. Prevention, early detection and treatment can enable people to live in good health, remain independent and connected to one’s community. There are also economic advantages for society, such as reducing the pressure on health and social care services and reducing costs as a result of people being unable to work.

Musculoskeletal conditions are a group of conditions that affect the bones, joints, muscles and spine, and are a common cause of severe long term pain and physical disability.

Musculoskeletal conditions are the leading cause of pain and disability in England and account for one of the highest causes of sickness absence and productivity loss. However, the prevalence and impact of musculoskeletal conditions are not experienced equally across the population and are linked to deprivation, age, sex, and ethnicity.

Public Health England’s 5-year strategy for musculoskeletal health (2019–2024) included a commitment to high quality, accessible data and intelligence tools to support surveillance and help reduce unwarranted variation in services for musculoskeletal conditions across the population pathway. This report provides data to expand awareness of disparities at national level.

A lot of the findings in this report are from survey data. Estimates from survey data are based on samples of the population and have confidence intervals which represent the range in which we expect the estimate to lie were it possible to survey the whole population. In this report the confidence intervals are represented by error bars which appear on the charts as black lines with tick bars at each end.

Findings in this report described as increasing, decreasing, higher, or lower are statistically significant differences and those described as being similar or showing no change are not. Significance was calculated via the overlapping confidence method where if confidence intervals for a population sub-group estimate did not overlap the England average confidence intervals, then the estimate was deemed to be significantly different from the England average. Sub-group estimates with confidence intervals that overlapped the England average confidence intervals were deemed to be statistically similar. Some of the charts use red, amber and green colour coding to indicate whether a estimate is significantly above the England average (red), significantly below the England average (green) or not significantly different from the England average (amber).

Some of the results for smaller sub-groups of survey respondents will have wide confidence intervals and therefore there is less certainty about the results for these groups.

Data tables to accompany this report can be accessed from the report publication page.

2 Prevalence of musculoskeletal conditions

2.1 Musculoskeletal conditions

In 2018, 43% of adults reported having at least one long term condition with the most common being a musculoskeletal condition at 17.1% (Figure 2.1.b). This has increased since 2015 when the prevalence was 15.4% (Figure 2.1.a).

Long term musculoskeletal conditions affect people of all ages but become more common with increasing age. In 2018, the prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions increased with age from 4.7% of those aged 16 to 24 up to 39.7% for those aged 85 or over (Figure 2.1.c).

Women (19.5%) reported a higher prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions than men (14.2%). When combining age and sex, we can see that the proportion of women who reported a long term musculoskeletal condition was higher than the proportion of men for all age bands from age 45 upwards (Figure 2.1.c).

Analysis of survey data combined across 2012 to 2018 showed that prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions varied by ethnicity (Figure 2.1.d). 20.8% of people in the Pakistani group reported a long term musculoskeletal condition which was higher than the average for all groups combined (16.4%). People in the Chinese (7.4%) and other white groups (13.3%) reported lower prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions than the average (16.4%) (Figure 2.1.d).

There were large differences between men and women in the Pakistani ethnic group, where Pakistani women (29.1%) were more likely to report a long term musculoskeletal condition than Pakistani men (12.9%) (Figure 2.1.d).

Prevalence of musculoskeletal conditions also varies by deprivation (Figure 2.1.e). In 2018, those in the most deprived fifth of areas (quintiles) had a higher prevalence than those in the least deprived (21.8% compared with 14.4%). For both men (18.0%) and women (25.4%), the most deprived areas had the highest prevalence, and disparity between the most and least deprived areas was greatest for women.

Trend

Figure 2.1.a: Prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions, 2015 to 2018

Source: Health Survey for England 2015 to 2018, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 1] Long term conditions are defined as physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more.

[note 2] Musculoskeletal includes arthritis and fibromyalgia and back, spine and neck pain and any other musculoskeletal conditions.

Comparison

Figure 2.1.b: Prevalence of long term conditions, 2018

Source: Health Survey for England 2018, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 2] Musculoskeletal includes arthritis and fibromyalgia and back, spine and neck pain and any other musculoskeletal conditions.

[note 3] Long term conditions are defined as physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more. Participants could mention up to 6 conditions, and therefore percentages may sum to more than 100%.

Age and sex

Figure 2.1.c: Prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions by age and sex, 2017 and 2018

Source: Health Survey for England 2017 and 2018, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over.

Notes:

[note 1] Long term conditions are defined as physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more.

[note 2] Musculoskeletal includes arthritis and fibromyalgia and back, spine and neck pain and any other musculoskeletal conditions.

Ethnicity

Figure 2.1.d: Prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions by ethnicity, 2012 to 2018

Persons

Men

Women

Source: Health Survey for England 2012 to 2018, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 1] Long term conditions are defined as physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more.

[note 2] Musculoskeletal includes arthritis and fibromyalgia and back, spine and neck pain and any other musculoskeletal conditions.

[note 4] Other white backgrounds includes adults who identified as Gypsy or Irish Traveller. Mixed or multiple ethnic backgrounds includes white and black Caribbean, white and black African, white and Asian and any other mixed or multiple ethnic background. Any other ethnic group includes any other Asian background, any other black/African/Caribbean background, Arab and any other ethnic group.

Deprivation

Figure 2.1.e: Prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions by Index of Multiple Deprivation quintile, 2018

Source: Health Survey for England 2018, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 1] Long term conditions are defined as physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more.

[note 2] Musculoskeletal includes arthritis and fibromyalgia and back, spine and neck pain and any other musculoskeletal conditions.

[note 5] Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) is the official measure of relative deprivation for small areas in England. It is designed to identify those small areas where there are the highest concentrations of several different types of deprivation. IMD quintiles range from 1 to 5, 1 being the most deprived and 5 being the least deprived. IMD quintile is assigned to each Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) in England. This report uses the 2015 version of the IMD.

2.2 Arthritis and fibromyalgia

It is possible to look at the specific conditions which are part of the overall family of musculoskeletal conditions. In 2018, 8.8% of adults reported long term arthritis and fibromyalgia (Figure 2.2.a). Prevalence increased with age from 0.4% of those aged 16 to 24 up to 25.0% in those aged 85 or over (Figure 2.2.b). Disparities by sex were particularly evident with 10.4% of women reporting arthritis and fibromyalgia compared with 6.0% of men. More women than men reported this condition for all age bands from 45 to 54 upwards. For those aged 85 or over, 30.9% of women reported arthritis and fibromyalgia compared with 16.9% of men (Figure 2.2.b).

Those that lived in the most deprived (12.4%) quintile reported a higher prevalence than those in the least deprived quintile (6.9%) (Figure 2.2.c). Prevalence among women showed a greater disparity by deprivation than among men. There was a 7.5 percentage point difference among women between the least and most deprived quintiles, compared with a 3.1 percentage point difference among men (Figure 2.2.c).

Data by ethnicity is not available as these analyses are based on one year of survey data and the sample size is too small to produce robust estimates for all ethnic groups.

Comparison

Figure 2.2.a: Prevalence of long term conditions, 2018

Source: Health Survey for England 2018, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 2] Musculoskeletal includes arthritis and fibromyalgia and back, spine and neck pain and any other musculoskeletal conditions.

Age and sex

Figure 2.2.b: Prevalence of long term arthritis and fibromyalgia by age and sex, 2017 and 2018

Source: Health Survey for England 2017 and 2018, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over.

Notes:

[note 1] Long term conditions are defined as physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more.

Deprivation

Figure 2.2.c: Prevalence of long term arthritis and fibromyalgia by Index of Multiple Deprivation quintile, 2018

Source: Health Survey for England 2018, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 1] Long term conditions are defined as physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more.

2.3 Back, spine and neck pain

In 2018, 4.7% of adults reported back, spine and neck pain (Figure 2.3.a). Although prevalence increased with age from 1.9% of 16 to 24 year olds up to 6.3% of 45 to 54 year olds, prevalence remained similar across the older age groups and was 5.8% for those 85 or over (Figure 2.3.b). Disparities between men and women were less marked than for other musculoskeletal conditions, however, 5.2% of women reported back, spine and neck pain compared with 4.2% of men.

6.6% of adults in the most deprived quintile reported back, spine and neck pain which was higher than in the least deprived quintile where prevalence was 4.2%. Men and women had a similar prevalence in each deprivation quintile (Figure 2.3.c).

Data by ethnicity is not available as these analyses are based on one year of survey data and the sample size is too small to produce robust estimates for all ethnic groups.

Comparison

Figure 2.3.a: Prevalence of long term conditions, 2018

Source: Health Survey for England 2018, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 2] Musculoskeletal includes arthritis and fibromyalgia and back, spine and neck pain and any other musculoskeletal conditions.

Age and sex

Figure 2.3.b: Prevalence of long term back, spine and neck pain by age and sex, 2017 and 2018

Source: Health Survey for England 2017 and 2018, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over.

Notes:

[note 1] Long term conditions are defined as physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more.

Deprivation

Figure 2.3.c: Prevalence of long term back, spine and neck pain by Index of Multiple Deprivation quintile, 2018

Source: Health Survey for England 2018, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 1] Long term conditions are defined as physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more.

2.4 Chronic pain

The impact of musculoskeletal conditions can be assessed by looking at chronic pain, which is defined as pain for a period of 12 weeks or more, and can have a severe impact on individuals and society.

The Health Survey for England in 2017 included questions based on the Von Korff graded chronic pain scale (version 2.0). For the purposes of this report, analysis of chronic pain grade has been presented using the low interference pain (Grade I and II) and high interference pain (Grade III and IV) groups. These groups are based on the level of interference (disability) on usual, day to day activities rather than intensity of pain. Further analyses of the Health Survey for England 2017 chronic pain questions are available in the Chronic pain in adults 2017 report.

In 2017, 80.9% of people who reported a long term musculoskeletal condition reported chronic pain (Figure 2.4.a) and 38.4% reported high interference pain (Figure 2.4.b). However, not all those reporting chronic pain will have a musculoskeletal condition; people with a long term musculoskeletal condition accounted for 36% of all those reporting chronic pain.

Women (38.0%) were more likely to report having chronic pain than men (30.2%) (Figure 2.4.c) and, of those that reported chronic pain, women (36.4%) reported higher levels of high interference pain than men (30.7%) (Figure 2.4.d).

Although, the prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions and of chronic pain increased with age (Figure 2.4.c), among all those with chronic pain younger people faced a similar impact from high interference chronic pain to those in older age groups. 32.3% of those aged 16 to 34 with chronic pain reported high interference pain compared with 38.2% of those aged 75 or over (Figure 2.4.e).

All ethnic groups had similar chronic pain prevalence, except for people in the black ethnic group where prevalence was higher than average at 44.3% (Figure 2.4.f). Among those with chronic pain, people in the Asian ethnic group (41.8%) were most likely to report that their pain had a high interference on their usual activities (Figure 2.4.g).

Those living in the most deprived quintile (41.2%) were more likely to report having chronic pain than those in the least deprived quintile (30.2%) (Figure 2.4.h). Among those that reported chronic pain with a high interference on usual activities, people were twice as likely to live in the most deprived quintile (29.9%) than the least deprived quintile (14.6%) (Figure 2.4.i).

Comparison

Figure 2.4.a: Prevalence of chronic pain by long term condition, 2017

Source: Health Survey for England 2017, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 1] Long term conditions are defined as physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more.

[note 2] Musculoskeletal includes arthritis and fibromyalgia and back, spine and neck pain and any other musculoskeletal conditions.

[note 6] Chronic pain is defined as pain or discomfort which troubles the individual all or some of the time and has lasted more than 3 months.

Interference

Figure 2.4.b: Prevalence of chronic pain interference by long term condition, 2017

Source: Health Survey for England 2017, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 1] Long term conditions are defined as physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more.

[note 2] Musculoskeletal includes arthritis and fibromyalgia and back, spine and neck pain and any other musculoskeletal conditions.

[note 6] Chronic pain is defined as pain or discomfort which troubles the individual all or some of the time and has lasted more than 3 months.

[note 7] Chronic pain interference was calculated based on the Von Korff Graded Chronic Pain Scale Version 2.0. This takes into account intensity of pain, the number of days pain has prevented usual activities and the impact of pain on daily, social and work activities in the last 3 months. The interference groups are as follows: Low interference pain: Grade I and II, High interference pain: Grade III and IV.

Age and sex

Figure 2.4.c: Prevalence of chronic pain by age and sex

Source: Health Survey for England 2017, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over.

Notes:

[note 6] Chronic pain is defined as pain or discomfort which troubles the individual all or some of the time and has lasted more than 3 months.

Interference by sex

Figure 2.4.d: Chronic pain interference level breakdown, for men and women, 2017

Source: Health Survey for England 2017, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 6] Chronic pain is defined as pain or discomfort which troubles the individual all or some of the time and has lasted more than 3 months.

Interference by age

Figure 2.4.e: Chronic pain interference level breakdown, for age groups, 2017

Source: Health Survey for England 2017, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 6] Chronic pain is defined as pain or discomfort which troubles the individual all or some of the time and has lasted more than 3 months.

Ethnicity

Figure 2.4.f: Prevalence of chronic pain by ethnicity, 2017

Source: Health Survey for England 2017, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 6] Chronic pain is defined as pain or discomfort which troubles the individual all or some of the time and has lasted more than 3 months.

Interference by ethnicity

Figure 2.4.g: Chronic pain interference level breakdown, for ethnic groups, 2017

Source: Health Survey for England 2017, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 6] Chronic pain is defined as pain or discomfort which troubles the individual all or some of the time and has lasted more than 3 months.

Deprivation

Figure 2.4.h: Prevalence of chronic pain, by Index of Multiple Deprivation quintile, 2017

Source: Health Survey for England 2017, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 6] Chronic pain is defined as pain or discomfort which troubles the individual all or some of the time and has lasted more than 3 months.

Interference by deprivation

Figure 2.4.i: Index of multiple deprivation breakdown of people experiencing chronic pain, for high and low interference pain, 2017

Source: Health Survey for England 2017, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 6] Chronic pain is defined as pain or discomfort which troubles the individual all or some of the time and has lasted more than 3 months.

3 Risk factors

This section on risk factors explores the relationship between long term musculoskeletal conditions and obesity and physical activity. Note that a relationship does not necessarily imply causality as it may be, for example, that a lack of physical activity is due to the presence of a long term musculoskeletal condition rather than the cause of it.

3.1 Musculoskeletal conditions and obesity

Supporting people to maintain a healthy weight and follow the UK Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) guidelines for physical activity can reduce the risks of developing musculoskeletal conditions, such as back and neck pain and osteoarthritis of the knee and hip, and benefit those affected by musculoskeletal conditions.

The prevalence of people living with overweight and obesity in England has increased by 3 percentage points in the last 10 years. In 2019, 64.2% of adults in England were living with overweight or obesity (Figure 3.1.a).

Those who were in obese class I and II or obese class III had a higher prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions (20.0% and 28.9% respectively) than the average for England (17.1%) (Figure 3.1.b). Those in the obese class III group reported a higher prevalence of arthritis and fibromyalgia at 14.5%, compared with the average of 8.8% (Figure 3.1.c).

Among those classified as underweight there was a higher than average prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions (24.6%) (Figure 3.1.b) and back, spine and neck pain (10.2%) (Figure 3.1.d).

In 2017, those who were in obese class I and II (39.2%) or obese class III (54.3%) had a higher prevalence of chronic pain than average for England (34.2%) (Figure 3.1.e).

Trend

Figure 3.1.a: Prevalence of people living with overweight and obesity class I, II, III, 2009 to 2019

Source: Health Survey for England 2009 to 2019, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 8] Body mass index, BMI, is measured using a person’s height and weight. It is calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. BMI categories are as follows: Underweight: less than 18.5, Healthy weight: 18.5 to 24.9, Overweight: 25 to 29.9, Obese class I and II: 30 to 39.9, Obese class III: greater than or equal to 40.

MSK

Figure 3.1.b: Prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions by body mass index category, 2018

Source: Health Survey for England 2018, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 1] Long term conditions are defined as physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more.

[note 2] Musculoskeletal includes arthritis and fibromyalgia and back, spine and neck pain and any other musculoskeletal conditions.

Arthritis

Figure 3.1.c: Prevalence of long term arthritis and fibromyalgia by body mass index category, 2018

Source: Health Survey for England 2018, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 1] Long term conditions are defined as physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more.

Back pain

Figure 3.1.d: Prevalence of long term back, spine and neck pain by body mass index category, 2018

Source: Health Survey for England 2018, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 1] Long term conditions are defined as physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more.

Chronic pain

Figure 3.1.e: Prevalence of chronic pain, by body mass index category, 2017

Source: Health Survey for England 2017, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 6] Chronic pain is defined as pain or discomfort which troubles the individual all or some of the time and has lasted more than 3 months.

3.2 Musculoskeletal conditions and physical activity

UK Chief Medical Officers physical activity guidelines state that adults should aim to do activities to develop or maintain muscle strengthening on 2 days per week and engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity each week. Many people with musculoskeletal conditions can reduce their pain and improve their quality of life and independence by being more physically active.

The proportion of people meeting the UK CMOs guidelines was 61.7% in 2016 which was similar to 2012 (Figure 3.2.a).

Those who completed 30 minutes or more of moderate vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per week had a lower prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions (14.0%) compared with those who completed less than 30 minutes (25.6%) (Figure 3.2.b).

A higher prevalence of arthritis and fibromyalgia (Figure 3.2.c), back, spine and neck pain (Figure 3.2.d) and chronic pain (Figure 3.2.e) were also reported among those who completed less than 30 minutes MVPA per week compared with those who completed 30 minutes or more.

Trend

Figure 3.2.a: Prevalence of physical activity status, 2012 and 2016

Source: Health Survey for England 2012 and 2016, NHS Digital. Adults aged 19 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 9] Meets aerobic guidelines: At least 150 minutes moderately intensive physical activity (MPA) or 75 minutes vigorous activity (VPA) per week (pw) or an equivalent combination of these. Inactive: Less than 30 minutes MPA pw or less than 15 minutes VPA pw or an equivalent combination of these.

MSK

Figure 3.2.b: Prevalence of long term musculoskeletal conditions by physical activity level, 2018

Source: Health Survey for England 2018, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 1] Long term conditions are defined as physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more.

[note 2] Musculoskeletal includes arthritis and fibromyalgia and back, spine and neck pain and any other musculoskeletal conditions.

[note 10] Activity levels based on reported moderate or vigorous physical activity (MVPA) using the IPAQ (International Physical Activity Questionnaire).

Arthritis

Figure 3.2.c: Prevalence of arthritis and fibromyalgia by physical activity level, 2018

Source: Health Survey for England 2018, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 1] Long term conditions are defined as physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more.

[note 10] Activity levels based on reported moderate or vigorous physical activity (MVPA) using the IPAQ (International Physical Activity Questionnaire).

Back pain

Figure 3.2.d: Prevalence of back, spine and neck pain by physical activity level, 2018

Source: Health Survey for England 2018, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 1] Long term conditions are defined as physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more.

[note 10] Activity levels based on reported moderate or vigorous physical activity (MVPA) using the IPAQ (International Physical Activity Questionnaire).

Chronic pain

Figure 3.2.e: Prevalence of chronic pain by physical activity level, 2017

Source: Health Survey for England 2017, NHS Digital. Adults aged 16 and over, age standardised.

Notes:

[note 6] Chronic pain is defined as pain or discomfort which troubles the individual all or some of the time and has lasted more than 3 months.

[note 10] Activity levels based on reported moderate or vigorous physical activity (MVPA) using the IPAQ (International Physical Activity Questionnaire).