Study Finds Some People In Pain Unlikely To Seek Treatment

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Study Finds Some People In Pain Unlikely To Seek Treatment

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=37640

A Rochester-based study has found more than 20 percent of people with

chronic pain did not seek physician help for their pain. The study

supports the opinion of many physicians that a large segment of

patients has an unmet need for pain care.

Increased media attention and physician education are recommended to

decrease the number of " silent sufferers, " according to the study.

Published in the February issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, the study

looked at 3,575 people. Of the 2,211 respondents who reported pain of

more than three months' duration, 22.4 percent (497) stated that they

had not informed their physician about their pain. The survey covered

a cross-section of residents of Olmsted County, Minn., from March

through June 2004.

It is unclear whether the reasons for not seeking treatment are

limited to minor impact of pain on the person, or for other reasons

such as poor previous experiences with pain care, perceived lack of

effective treatments, and barriers to health care; lack of medical

insurance, for example.

The importance of pain management has gained increasing recognition

in the last decade. In 1995, the American Pain Society declared pain

to be the fifth vital sign, a designation to increase pain awareness

among health care professionals.

The rapid increases in pain medicine prescription hint at a

population of patients with unmet pain needs, according to the study.

Barbara Yawn, M.D., an Olmsted Medical Center physician and an author

of the study, says, " Identification of patients in pain is essential

to successful pain care. Despite significant efforts, successful pain

care clearly is not happening. Physicians have a responsibility to

ask their patients about chronic pain. "

Pain's health impact on society is significant. Pain sufferers report

that their pain interferes with their general activities and sleep.

Approximately 25 percent of " silent sufferers, " those not telling

their physician about their pain, indicated at least moderate

interference with both general activity and sleep. A larger

proportion of vocal sufferers (43.2 percent) showed comparable levels

of interference. In general, the location of the pain had little

effect on whether the patients reported their pain. The study found

that chronic pain suffers who do not seek treatment tend to be

younger men whose pain has less impact on their usual activities.

Other researchers included Emmeline Watkins, Ph.D., from the

Department of Epidemiology at AstraZeneca, and Wollan, Ph.D.,

from Olmsted Medical Center, and ph Melton, M.D., from Mayo

Clinic. The study was supported by a grant from AstraZeneca.