AB088. SOH21AS047. Pain sources in patients attending a chronic pain clinic: retrospective study

Background: The identification of the source and mechanism of pain is fundamental for the treatment of chronic pain. Chronic pain patients may have multiple sources of pain with an impact on treatment outcomes. These coexisting conditions are more common in women than men. We designed a retrospective study to assess this in patients referred to a chronic pain clinic.

Methods: A total of 100 adult patient charts from one pain management practice in Limerick, Ireland were randomly selected (November 2020). Patient demographics were recorded, the sources of pain were determined, as well as injuries if the source of pain (e.g., road traffic accident, work injury or surgical interventions).

Results: From 100 adult patients between 18 to 92 years of age (57.05±17 years), 55% were women and 45% men. Our study showed that 63% of patients had more than one source of pain. This was more common in women (69%) than in men (30%). The most common source of pain was joint pain (46%), followed by back pain (39%), back and leg pain (35%), neck pain (22%) and widespread pain (15%). With injuries, 19% were in a road traffic accident, 6% had work injury related pain and 12% were post-surgical.

Conclusions: A significant proportion of chronic pain patients were diagnosed with multiple sources of pain. This illustrates the importance of a pain management service in the diagnosis of chronic pain in patients by finding the sources and mechanisms of pain. This study demonstrates the need for the pain management service to refine diagnostic skills and techniques.

Keywords: Pain; multiple chronic pain conditions; pain management service; diagnosis; diagnostic