What is already known about this topic?: Chronic pain has been identified as a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Evidence shows that adopting a healthy lifestyle can help reduce the cardiometabolic risks associated with chronic pain.
What is added by this report?: Results from this cohort study suggest a positive association between chronic pain and the development of new-onset metabolic-related multimorbidity, specifically metabolic multimorbidity and cardiometabolic comorbidity, within middle-aged and older Chinese adults. Furthermore, adopting healthy lifestyles can potentially mitigate or even reverse these associations.
What are the implications for public health practice?: The results of our study emphasize the importance of promoting healthy lifestyles among older Chinese adults as a preventative measure against the medical burdens and cardiometabolic risks associated with chronic pain.
Keywords: cardiometabolic; chronic pain; comorbidity; healthy lifestyles; multimorbidity.
Copyright and License information: Editorial Office of CCDCW, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention 2023.