The High Burden of Acute and Chronic Pain in General Practice in French-Speaking Belgium

Abstract

Arnaud Steyaert,1,2 Romain Bischoff,3 Jean-Marc Feron,4 Anne Berquin2,5 1Department of Anesthesiology, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium; 2Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium; 3General Practice Medecine Internship, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium; 4Centre Académique de médecine générale, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium; 5Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, BelgiumCorrespondence: Anne Berquin, Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Avenue Hippocrate 10, Brussels, 1200, Belgium, Email [email protected]: Chronic pain prevalence is very high in the general population, much higher than can be managed by chronic pain centers. Therefore, most pain patients are cared for by first-line professionals. However, general practitioners often feel ill at ease with these patients, and only a few studies assess the burden of chronic pain in general practice. To better estimate the resources needed to support these professionals, a good knowledge of (sub)acute and chronic pain prevalence and prognosis in general practices is needed.Methods: We report cross-sectional data from a larger longitudinal study performed in French-speaking general practices in Belgium in November 2018. Fifth-year medical students performing a one-month internship collected data for every third patient they saw each day: demographic information, pain characteristics, lifestyle, general health perception and the short Örebro Musculoskeletal Pain Screening Questionnaire in the French language.Results: 3882 patients (participation rate 66%) accepted to take part in the study. 22 and 50% of these suffered from (sub)acute and chronic pain, respectively. Pain was more often the motive of the consultation for (sub)acute than for chronic pain patients. Pain intensity and functional impact were moderate, irrespective of pain duration. 70% of (sub)acute and 31% of chronic pain patients were at low risk of chronicity.Conclusion: In our sample, chronic pain patients constituted 33– 50% of patient contacts in general practice, indicating the high importance of providing adequate support to general practitioners and other first-line professionals, ie, by reinforcing collaboration with chronic pain centers.Keywords: Acute pain, chronic pain, general practice

Keywords

• acute pain
• chronic pain
• general practice