A survey on pain complaints and health care utilization in a German population sample

Abstract

A postal survey was carried out on every 71st person aged between 18 and 80 in the population registers in County Regierungsbezirk Karlsruhe in the State of Baden-Würtemberg. It asked 2127 persons whether they had, in the previous 6 months, experienced any form of unduly prolonged pain (as distinct from brief intercurrent self-limiting episodes related to injury inflammation etc.) and, if so, to specify its location, duration, severity and persistence. It also sought information on the resulting calls on healthcare professionals and the degree of satisfaction with treatments received. The age and gender distributions of the sample selected for survey matched those in the population from which it was drawn. Of the 1420 respondents, only 1304 declared their age and gender--a condition for inclusion in the analysis. Of these, 610 reported some form of unduly prolonged pain, which had lasted more than a year in 530. For all pain lasting longer than a year, the estimated prevalence of mild pain was 11%, severe 25% and intolerable 3.5%: the corresponding estimates for persistent as opposed to episodic pain were 2% for mild, 10% for sever and 1% for intolerable. Pain was present in more than one anatomical location in most of those who reported it. Musculoskeletal pain was overwhelmingly the most common. Increasing age, obesity and being female pre-disposed to the reporting of pain, with women being more liable to report headache and pain in the neck and shoulder. One hundred and thirty-six pain reporters either gave no information on consultation or sought no help from healthcare professionals: a third of the remainder consulted more than one professional, with general practitioners and specialists in physical medicine (niedergelassener Orthopäde) being the most common. A wide variety of treatments were used, with oral medications, massage, exercises, mud pack and heat treatment being the most popular; two-thirds of sufferers used more than one type of treatment. The most popular types of treatment tended also to be the most successful, except for oral medication (which was also the most heterogeneous). Multiple logistic regression analyses identified consistent associations between duration and severity of pain, the number of sites where it was reported, the numbers of healthcare professionals consulted and the number of treatments tried, and the same groupings of features were associated with decreased likelihood of overall satisfaction with treatment received.

The Efficacy of Balneotherapy in the Patients with Subacromial Impingement Syndrome

“…Bal ne o te ra pi mo dali te le rin den bi ri olan pe lo i do te ra pi, ağ rı yı iyi leş-tir me ve has ta lıkla rın akut faz la rı nı ön le me de ki ba şa rı la rın dan do la yı ol duk ça po pü ler dir. 29 Ya pı lan ba zı ça lış ma lar da pe lo i do te ra pi nin ter mal uya rı sonu cu no rad re na lin, kor ti zol ve b-en dor fin le rin serum se vi ye le rin de ki ar tış so nu cu, an ti enf la ma tu ar ve anal je zik et ki nin mey da na gel di ği ka bul edilmek te dir. 30,31 Baş ka bir ça lış ma da ise pe lo id te davi si so nu cu kı kır dak enf la mas yo nu ve do ku yı kı mı na ne den olan İnter lö kin 1ve tü mör nek ro - …”

“…29 Yi ne ben zer ça lış ma lar da, enf la mas yon ve ağ rı ya ra tan pros tag lan din E2 (PGE 2 ) ve lö kot ri en B 4 (LTB 4 ) gi bi mad de le rin pe lo id te da vi si son ra sın da se rum se vi ye le rin de azal ma ol du ğu bu lun muş tur. [30][31][32] Poen sin ve ark.…”

Wirksamkeit und Wirtschaftlichkeit von Teufelskrallenwurzelextrakt bei Rückenschmerzen: Erste Ergebnisse einer therapeutischen Kohortenstudie

“…Die Behandlung von Rückenschmerzen mit Phytopharmaka ist wenig populär [6], Dennoch lässt das pharmakologische Wirkprinzip mancher Phytopharmaka eine effiziente Behand lung rheumatischer Erkrankungen erwarten. Neben einer Hemmung der Cyclooxygenase und/oder der Lipoxygenase im Arachidonsäurestoffwechsel [1,15,19] wurde eine Hemmung der Zytokinfreisetzung (Tumor-Nekrose-Faktor-alpha (TNFalpha), Interleukin-l-ß (IL-lß)) beobachtet [16,18] 6 Wochen Therapie war in beiden Gruppen etwa gleich (Guppe J: n = 16 bzw.…”

“…Neben einer Hemmung der Cyclooxygenase und/oder der Lipoxygenase im Arachidonsäurestoffwechsel [1,15,19] wurde eine Hemmung der Zytokinfreisetzung (Tumor-Nekrose-Faktor-alpha (TNFalpha), Interleukin-l-ß (IL-lß)) beobachtet [16,18] 6 Wochen Therapie war in beiden Gruppen etwa gleich (Guppe J: n = 16 bzw. 20; Gruppe K: n = 12 bzw.…”

Chronic Pain in German General Practice

“…Up to now there are six populationbased studies on the prevalence of chronic pain in Germany. A postal survey found a prevalence of 39% [6]; a telephone survey showed a rate of 17% [7]. A prevalence of 31% was calculated for children and adolescents [8], and 13% for women [9].…”