335: Pain in Greenland: Prevalence of Patients with Analgesic Prescriptions in Greenland

Topic: Clinical Science
Subtopic: Non-specific to any diagnosis, Pain in Special Populations

Background and Aims: Acute and chronic pain are common conditions affecting individuals world wide from childhood to old age. Acute pain is a warning signal about tissue damage and a necessary sign for survival, while chronic pain is pain that persists after normal healing of damaged tissue i.e. lasting more than three months. Approximately 20% of the adult population in Western countries have chronic pain. Previous studies suggest that cold environment is associated with a high prevalence of for example musculoskeletal pains among indigenous people living in Arctic areas. The prevalence of both acute and chronic pain in Greenland is unknown. The aim of this study was to estimate and compare the age and gender specific prevalence of pain in Greenland and Denmark using the prescription of analgesics as a proxy for the presence of pain.

Methods: A nationwide register-based observational cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the Greenlandic health care systems electronic medical record (EMR). and the Danish online medical register system (Medstat.dk). We have calculated the prevalence of patients in Greenland, who were prescribed analgesics in 2025 stratified by sex and 6 different age intervals 0-80+. Analgesic compounds provided over the counter have not been included. Analgesic medicine has the anatomical classification code ATC N02, which was used for data extraction. ATC N02 includes opioids (N02A), other analgesics, paracetamol (N02BE0!), ibuprofen (M01AE01). Gabapentinoids (N02BF), and antimigraine preparations (N02C) was not included. In the analysis we used the population in 2025 from Greenlandic and Danish online statistics banks as background populations. Greenland and Denmark had a population of 56.699 and 5.992.734 people, respectively. Estimates of prevalences were calculated with 95% confidence limits for each age and gender groups.

Results: Totally 19.574 Greenlandic individuals and 1.493.950 Danish persons had a prescription of analgesics in 2025. The prevalence of individuals aged 0-80+ years treated with analgesics was overall significantly higher in Greenland: 34.44% (34.05%-34.83%) compared to Denmark: 24.93% (24.89%-24.96%). However for strong analgesics the prevalence of patients treated with opioids was significantly lower in Greenland: 2.52% (2.39%-2.65%) compared to Denmark, where 4.94% (4.93%-4.96%) were treated with opioids. The age and gender specific groups showed that in Greenland the consumption of non-opioid analgesics was significantly higher among women than among men in all age groups except in the age group 0-17 years. The prevalence of patients aged 0-80+ years treated with analgesics in Greenland increased with age. In the Disko region of Greenland analgesic presriptions were higher than in any of the other 4 regions in Greenland.

Conclusions: More than 1/3 of the Greenlandic population had a prescription of analgesics in 2025.
The prescription of opioids in Greenland was lower than in Denmark.
The higher prevalence of analgesic prescriptions in Greenland may indicate a higher pain burden in Greenland than in Denmark.

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Presenting Author: Troels S. Jensen
Submitting Author: Troels Staehelin Jensen

Senior Author: Troels S. Jensen

IASP 2026 Global Year theme of Neuropathic Pain: No

• Margarida Gothen: MD - Dronning Ingrids Hospital 3900 Nuuk, Kalaallit Nunaat/ Greenland
• Michael Lynge Pedersen: MD, DMSc - Steno Diabetes Center Greenland, Kalaallit Nunaat/ Greenland