Prevalence of pain in the Spanish population telephone survey in 5000 homes
- 1 April 2002
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in European journal of pain
- Vol. 6 (2), 133-140
- https://doi.org/10.1053/eujp.2001.0310
Abstract
Pain has become the most common accompanying symptom in patients seeking medical advice, and it is one of the main issues in public health. In Spain, there are no reliable data about the impact of pain in general population. The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of acute and chronic pain in the Spanish general population. An epidemiological observational population‐based cross‐sectional study was carried out by means of a telephone survey. Multistep stratified quota‐adjusted sampling was performed with people aged 18–95 years. A computer‐assisted questionnaire was administered, covering physical pain symptoms, site, frequency, perceived cause, therapeutic measures and interference with daily life activities. There were 11980 useful contacts, with 5000 effective interviews (42% of useful sample). Of the interviewees, 29.6% (95% confidence interval, 28.3–30.8%) reported having had pain the day before (women, 37.6%; men, 20.9%) and 43.2% the week before. Most common pain sites were lower extremities (22.7%) and back (cervical and lumbar levels) (21.5%), followed by head (20.5%). Frequency of pain increased with age, reaching 42.6% for people older than 65 years. Among people complaining of pain during the last day or week, duration of symptoms was higher than 3 months in 54% (chronic pain), representing 23.4% of the Spanish general population; most common causes of chronic pain were arthritis, rheumatism and migraine. Regarding treatment, 61.7% of people complaining of pain said they were taking drugs. Source of drug treatment advice was a physician or a nurse in 66.4% of cases and self‐prescription in 29%. It is concluded that pain, particularly chronic pain, has a high prevalence in the Spanish general population and a significant impact on occupational and social relationships. ©2002 European Federation of Chapters of the International Association for the Study of PainThis publication has 14 references indexed in Scilit:
- Estimates of the prevalence of arthritis and selected musculoskeletal disorders in the United StatesArthritis & Rheumatism, 1998
- The socioeconomic impact of chronic painDisability and Rehabilitation, 1994
- Efficacy of multidisciplinary pain treatment centers: a meta-analytic reviewPain, 1992
- Epidemiology of pain in New ZealandPain, 1991
- Study of 500 patients with limb joint osteoarthritis. I. Analysis by age, sex, and distribution of symptomatic joint sites.Annals Of The Rheumatic Diseases, 1991
- Graded chronic pain status: an epidemiologic evaluationPain, 1990
- The prevalence of pain in a general population. The results of a postal survey in a county of SwedenPain, 1989
- Propuesta de un indicador de la «clase social» basado en la ocupaciónGaceta Sanitaria, 1989
- An epidemiologic comparison of pain complaintsPain, 1988
- Survey of Pain in the United States: The Nuprin Pain ReportThe Clinical Journal of Pain, 1986