Pain in general practice: Pain as a cause of patient-doctor contact

Abstract

In 1983 26 general practitioners in a Danish provincial town made a week's survey of pain as the main cause of patient-doctor contact during the day time. The population served was 45 000-50 000 persons of all ages. Coexistent pain which was not the cause of actual contact was not recorded. Out of 2 886 contacts of all causes 641 were due to pain (22 % or 222/1 000 contacts). Percentages for acute and chronic pain were 61 and 39 respectively. The commonest causes of pain were musculo-skeletal (50 % visceral including cardio-vascular (20 % infectious (15 % and headaches (8 % The overall female: male ratio was 1.5:1, but with considerable variation within the different pain categories. The ratios for acute and chronic pain were 1.4:1 and 1.8:1 respectively. About one hundred contacts were recorded as "problem cases" whose predominant complaints were low back pain, headaches, and visceral pain. Pain-especially chronic pain with a non-malignant cause-is a major problem in general practice. Essentially, pain is a primary health care problem and research in this field should be encouraged. © 1986 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved: reproduction in whole or part not permitted.