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Backgrounds/aims: Musculoskeletal symptoms are common in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), but no study has compared the prevalence of chronic pain to controls from a general population.

Methods: Patients with UC (n = 1164) and controls (n = 3867) were sent questionnaires comprising demography, history of pain, pain localization and UC patients' Patient-Simple Clinical Colitis Activity Index. Chronic regional pain (ChRP) and chronic widespread pain (ChWP) were defined as having pain for at least 3 months.

Results: The response rate for the patients with UC was 49.0% and for the control persons 61.7% (p < .001). The reported prevalence of ChRP and ChWP was higher in patients with UC versus controls (33.1% vs. 24.2%;p < .001 and 19.8% vs. 12.5%;p < .001). The patients with UC reported significantly more pain in the regions 'lower back', 'hip/upper leg' and 'lower leg/foot' compared to controls. The patients with P-SCCAI5 (n = 121) reported more ChWP than patients with P-SCCAI <5 (n = 426) (46.3% vs. 12.7%;p < .001) and controls (n = 2425) (46.3 vs. 12.5%;p < .001) in all body regions. No significant difference in ChWP was found between patients with P-SCCAI <5 and controls (12.7% vs. 12.5%;p = .917).

Conclusions: Patients with UC reported more chronic pain than controls from the general population, especially from the lower back and hip region. Higher UC disease activity was associated with more pain in all body regions.