Chronic pain costs time and money

October 13, 2003

LONDON (Reuters) - Chronic pain accounts for nearly 500 million lost

working days a year in Europe, costing the economy 34 billion euros

(21 billion pounds), according to a survey of 46,000 people in 16

countries.

The survey, sponsored by the analgesic company Mundipharma, found

that 19 percent of adults live in pain, often for years without

adequate pain relief.

A third of sufferers reported being in pain every minute of their

lives, one fifth said they had been in pain for 20 years or more, and

a quarter felt that their doctor did not know how to control their

pain.

The highest prevalence of chronic pain was in Norway with 30 percent

and the lowest was in Spain at 11 percent. The UK rate was 13

percent, France, 15 percent, Germany 17 percent and Italy 26 percent.

The highest rates of inadequate pain control were found in the UK and

France, while the highest rates of adequate control were in Finland,

Ireland and Germany. Of all the countries, the fastest pain control

was achieved in Germany.

One fifth of patients said they had lost a job as a result of their

pain, 21 percent had been diagnosed with depression and 16 percent

said their pain was sometimes so bad they wanted to die, the results

showed.

Nearly a third of patients said they had not been informed about new

methods of pain control. One possible explanation was that 65 percent

of patients had only seen two doctors, who were usually generalists.

The most commonly used prescriptions were NSAIDS (45 percent) weak

opioids (24 percent) paracetamol (18 percent) cox-2 inhibitors (6

percent) and strong opioids (5 percent).

The average age of patients was 50. The most frequent cause of pain

arthritis and osteoarthritis which affected 34 percent of patients.

Acupuncture needs to be made more aware to primary healthcare workers

and initiate a correct referral procedure. Any comments?

Attilio

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