Exploring the Roots of Chronic Pain: Socioeconomic & Environmental Insights

📌 Overview

This capstone quantifies how GDP per capita, civil conflict, education, age, and gender shape self-reported body pain using the World Health Survey (n=54,019) with OLS regression, logistic regression, and interaction models.

🎯 Research Objectives

• Assess whether higher GDP per capita is associated with lower chronic pain.
• Evaluate the impact of living in civil conflict zones on pain levels.
• Determine how education, age, and gender influence pain prevalence.
• Explore interaction effects between socioeconomic and demographic factors.

📊 Data & Methodology

• Data Source: World Health Survey
• Population: Individuals aged 20–60 from multiple countries
• Variables: GDP per capita (log-transformed), civil conflict status (0/1), education level (ordinal), age, gender, body pain score (1–5)
• Analytical Methods: OLS regression, logistic regression, interaction models

📈 Key Findings

• Higher GDP per capita is linked to lower pain scores.
• Living in conflict zones increases pain prevalence.
• Higher education reduces reported pain.
• Older individuals report higher pain levels.
• Females report higher pain than males.
• Education mitigates age-related pain increases; GDP buffers conflict’s impact on pain.