Australasian Association for Academic Primary Care 2021 Annual Research Conference.

Background: Refugee women are one of the most vulnerable groups in our society and exhibit some of the highest rates of chronic pain. However, the relationship between migration experiences and the development and perpetuation of chronic pain remains unclear. Aim/Objective: To identify the pre- and post-migration factors associated with chronic pain in refugee women living in Australia. Methods: A secondary analysis of a prospective longitudinal cohort was conducted using resettlement data from the 'Building a New Life in Australia', a study of humanitarian refugees living in Australia. The primary outcome was chronic pain and predictors include migration and resettlement factors collected between October 2013 to March 2018. Logistic regression modelling was used to examine the association between predictor variables and chronic pain. Findings: 310 refugee women aged between 18 to 75 years were included in this study. Almost half reported having chronic pain, 65% of whom also reported having a long-term disability. After controlling for potential covariates, the strongest predictors associated with chronic pain were age, Women at Risk visa category, general health, region of settlement and discrimination. Our final model showed that women who migrate on the Women at Risk visa had 2.3 times higher odds of reporting chronic pain than women migrating on any other visa category (95% CI 1.20, 4.24). Implications: This study has provided rich insights into the health of resettling refugee women, informing an evidence base for chronic pain assessment and guiding broader practice protocols, to support women resettling and dealing with chronic pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]