An epidemiological comparison of pain complaints in the general population of Catalonia (Spain)

Abstract

Epidemiological studies help to establish the health status in a country and allow a better allocation of economic resources. This survey estimated pain prevalence in Catalonia (Spain), analysed its relationship with demographic variables and evaluated pain-associated disabilities. The study was carried out in 1964 adults via phone interviews asking about any pain complaint they experienced in the last 6 months, regardless of its intensity and duration. Overall pain prevalence was 78.6%, significantly lower in men, with a trend to decrease with age. Back (50.9%), head (42%) and legs (36.8%) were the most affected locations. Less educated people reported, in general, higher prevalences. Pain described to be most annoying was related to musculoskeletal disease (26.2%) and migraines (16.5%). Pain was either very severe or unbearable in 33% of the sample, with women and older people reporting higher intensities. Personal and social activities were affected in 25.4% of cases and in 10.4% they became virtually impossible. Both the limitation of activity and the need for bed rest, which occurred in 19.6% of those who suffered pain, were more common amongst unemployed people, whereas 10.2% of workers had to take days off work due to pain, and 3.3% were fully incapacitated by it. In conclusion, the prevalence of pain was clearly higher among women, with an inverse relationship to age. Back pain and headaches were most prevalent and pain was rated as very severe to unbearable in one third of the patients. Pain-associated disabilities were a frequent finding. The present survey reports that pain is a substantial problem in the Catalonian population and generally reflects the characteristics of data previously reported in Anglo-saxon and Scandinavian countries.

Prevalência de dor crônica em adultos

“…Os resultados de associação entre freqüência de dor e sexo de outras pesquisas epidemiológicas de dor geral são congruentes com os resultados deste estudo, que mostrou maior freqüência de dor entre as mulheres (Tabela 4) (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17) . Em dados apresentados no estudo de prevalência de dor geral de Von Korff et al (2) , dor de cabeça, dor abdominal e dor temporomandibular foram mais comuns entre as mulheres do que entre os homens, porém não houve diferença entre os sexos para dor lombar e torácica.…”

“…Quanto aos locais de dor, os estudos epidemiológicos que pesquisam dores crônicas não específicas, apresentam em geral a dor lombar como sendo o local de maior prevalência na população adulta (2,8,10,12,14) . A dor de cabeça também se apresenta com maior prevalência em alguns estudos.…”

“…Crook et al (12) identificaram a dor nos membros inferiores como o segundo local mais prevalente, quando se questionou a ocorrência de dor nas duas semanas anteriores à coleta de dados. Outros estudos epidemiológicos de dor geral também apresentam a dor nos membros inferiores como o terceiro local de dor mais prevalente (8,14,23) . Analisando alguns estudos epidemiológicos que pesquisaram a dor de cabeça especificamente, conclui-se que é difícil fazer algum tipo de comparação de forma consistente por causa da variabilidade de métodos utilizados (24,31) .…”

Dental pain prevalence and association with dental caries and socioeconomic status in schoolchildren, Southern Brazil, 2002

“…Some findings point to a higher prevalence of dental pain among low socioeconomic groups 1,4,9,11,16,19,25, *. On the other hand, some studies point to a lack of association between these two factors 2,14,20,26 . Caries experience has been consistently associated in some studies with dental pain.…”

The prevalence, correlates and treatment of pain in Spain

“…Although population prevalence estimates and the correlates of pain are described together with the degree of activity limitations imposed, the study does not attempt to quantify the societal burden of pain. Other studies are limited by region and by demographic group 2,3 . At the European level the picture is somewhat different from that found in Spain.…”