OBJECTIVE: To examine and map the consequences of chronic pain in adulthood. METHOD: Documents addressing the impact of chronic pain on the psychological and social spheres of people suffering from chronic pain, published in Spanish and English between 2013 and 2018, were included. Those who addressed pharmacological treatments, chronic pain resulting from surgical interventions or who did not have access to the full text were excluded. Finally, 28 documents from the 485 reviewed were included. RESULTS: Studies show that pain is related to high rates of limitation in daily activities, sleep disorders and anxiety-depression spectrum disorders. People in pain have more problems to get the workday done and to maintain social relationships. Chronic pain is also associated with worse family functioning. CONCLUSIONS: This review shows that limitations in the ability to perform activities of daily living, sleep, psychological health, social and work resources and family functioning are lines of interest in published articles. However, knowledge gaps are detected in areas such as the influence of having suffered pain in childhood or adolescence, the consequences of non-fulfillment of working hours and gender inequalities.

Indigenous communities usually experience higher levels of mortality and poorer access to healthcare services compared to non-indigenous communities. This study aims to understand the most prevalent health problems and their treatment in the Asháninka indigenous communities of the Peruvian Amazon. We conducted an ethnographic study in order to explore the perceived health problems, the use of traditional medicine and the resources offered by the official Peruvian healthcare system. Field notes and semi-structured interviews were used. A total of 16 indigenous and four non-indigenous people were interviewed, and interpretative analysis was used to identify themes. The Asháninka community is an overlooked population, which, due to distance restrictions, misconceptions and ethnical disparities, is far away from an appropriate healthcare system and is subjected to acute medical conditions such as infections and gastrointestinal problems. This group tends to seek traditional medicine, mostly herbal medications and traditional healers. The use of a health professional is seen as a last resort. Although the official Peruvian health system incorporates community participation strategies to improve the healthcare of indigenous people, the shortage of material, human resources and cultural sensitivity makes this difficult. Healthcare strategies should be devised and implemented in order to minimize health inequality in this population.