Correlation of pain and life satisfaction among persons with haemophilia

Introduction and objectives: The fact, proven by many research, is that in their lives persons with haemophilia are often faced with severe or slight pain. In this paper we tried to examine relation between it’s severity and frequency, as well as discover what is the pain frequency and intensity’s influence on the life satisfaction among persons with haemophilia. Methods: Survey among adults with haemophilia was conducted in Croatia (N=135). General life satisfaction was assessed on a 5-point rating scale, whereas 10-point scales, extracted from the Personal Wellbeing Index – PWI (Cummins, 2002), were used to measure satisfaction with material and social aspects of life and life accomplishments. Pain frequency was measured on a 4-point scale, while pain intensity and its influence on mood, mobility, sleeping, work and recreation was measured on 5-point scales. Results: Negative correlation with life satisfaction is shown by both pain intensity (r=-0, 243 ; p=0, 005) and frequency (r=-0, 348 ; p=0, 000), while the regression analysis pointed only to pain frequency as significant predictor of life satisfaction (β=-0.347 ; p=0.003 / β=0.001 ; p=0.990). In relation to some other determinants of life satisfaction, such as 3 domains of the personal well-being scale: life accomplishments (β=0.288 ; p=0.005), material conditions (β=0.240 ; p=0.010) and social relationships (β=0.191 ; p=0.020), pain frequency remained significant predictor of life satisfaction (β=-0.207 ; p=0.036) and pain intensity insignificant (β=0, 137 ; p=0.166). In addition, we also separately analysed the influence of pain on various aspects of daily functioning: mood, mobility, sleeping, work, and recreation. All deficiencies caused by pain are in negative correlation with life satisfaction, but observed concurrently, in a regression model, sleep deprivation will take priority and remain the only significant predictor of (lesser) general life satisfaction (β=-0.403 ; p=0.002). Conclusion: The negative correlation of pain intensity and frequency with daily functioning and life satisfaction makes evident, as expected, that the presence of pain degrades the level of life satisfaction among persons with haemophilia. Additional analyses point to the probability of becoming relatively accustomed to pain in certain contexts ; however, it seems that this is not possible if the pain causes sleep deprivation.