A cross-sectional study on pain prevalence, management and interference among university students in a Malaysian public university / Nurin Jazlina Mohd Jamsari, Yow Hui Yin and Kayatri Govindaraju

Introduction: Pain is common among university students, and if lef t unmanaged, it can greatly hinder productivity, academic, mood, and social lif e. Identif ying the prevalence of pain and evaluating the ef f ectiveness of pain management methods among university students are crucial steps in assessing the need f or a pain management program. This study aims to assess pain prevalence among university students, analyse the pain management methods, and evaluate the impact of pain on dif f erent aspects of students' lives. Methods: This cross- sectional study was conducted through an online questionnaire consisting of five sections and involved a convenience sampling of 380 Universiti Malaya students. The statistical tests used were descriptive and inf erential analysis (i.e. chi-squared test, Kruskal-Wallis test). Results: The overall pain prevalence in the last 30 days was 82.1%, with 1.3% of the cases being chronic pain lasting more than three months. Females are more likely to experience pain (p < 0.001). Headache, musculoskeletal pain and period pain were the most commonly experienced pain by the students. About 72% of the participants who reported pain used pharmacological methods, and about 88% used non-pharmacological methods. However, 23.1% of the pain suf f erers did not take any action to address their pain. Mood and daily f unctioning were the aspects of life that are most af fected when in pain. Conclusion: The high prevalence of pain and the presence of unmanaged pain among a proportion of the students suggest that the introduction of a pain management program would be highly advantageous f or university students.