Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
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Multiple sources of pain in patients attending chronic pain clinics

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posted on 2023-05-08, 09:05 authored by A Boros, W Lan, A Moudrakovski, Dominic Harmon

Introduction Identifying the source of pain is of major importance in treating chronic pain. The treatment outcome for chronic pain, is impacted if multiple pain sources are present. The aim of this study was to determine how common were multiple pain sources in patients attending chronic pain clinics.

Methods This retrospective study included 300, randomly selected, adult patient charts from three pain management centers in Ireland. We recorded patient demographics, the sources of pain and injury.

Results Patients, age ranged between 18 to 92 years of age (Mean/SD) (56 years ±15.75). Sixty one percent of patients (184) were women. Our study showed that 63% (188) had more than one source of pain. The most common source of pain was back pain 119/300 (39.7%) followed by joint pain 117/300 (39.0%), back and leg pain 103/300 (34.3%) and neck pain 76/300 (25.3%). Twenty percent of patients (59), had injuries caused by road traffic accidents, work related injuries and post-surgical.

Conclusion Diagnosing the source and mechanism of pain is fundamental in the treatment of chronic pain conditions. The majority of patients attending chronic pain clinics have more than one source of pain.

History

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The original article is available at www.imj.ie

Published Citation

Boros A, Lan W. Moudrakovski A, Harmon D. Multiple sources of pain in patients attending chronic pain clinics. Ir Med J. 2023;116(3):745.

Publication Date

March 2023

PubMed ID

37010529

Department/Unit

  • Beaumont Hospital

Publisher

Irish Medical Association

Version

  • Published Version (Version of Record)