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Pain Severity Cut‐Points and Analgesic Use by Community‐Dwelling People for Chronic Pain
Author(s) -
Brown Kathryn E,
Swift Ian,
Spark M Joy
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of pharmacy practice and research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 2055-2335
pISSN - 1445-937X
DOI - 10.1002/j.2055-2335.2012.tb00169.x
Subject(s) - medicine , chronic pain , physical therapy , brief pain inventory , analgesic , medical prescription , pharmacy , visual analogue scale , pain scale , anesthesia , family medicine , nursing
Aim To define a descriptive scale for mild, moderate and severe chronic pain experienced by community‐dwelling people; and to use this scale to investigate chronic pain management in community‐dwelling people. Method People with chronic pain were recruited through 20 randomly selected rural and urban community pharmacies in Victoria, Australia. Participants received a survey pack with their prescription medication and chose to participate in the study by returning the completed anonymous questionnaire. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to determine cut‐points on the 0 to 10 average pain intensity scale of the Brief Pain Inventory (short form) from participants' reports of pain interference in daily activities during the previous week. Results Questionnaires were returned by 219 people (response rate 31%). Cut‐points on the average pain intensity scale of 3 and 6 were found to categorise chronic pain. Therefore, an average pain intensity of 1 to 3 can be considered mild, 3 to 6 moderate and 6 to 10 severe, with each increase in category indicating a significant increase in pain interference in daily activities. Gender, age and locality did not influence reported pain intensity. 191 participants (91%) reported experiencing moderate or severe pain during the previous week. Conclusion Cut‐points on the average pain intensity scale of the Brief Pain Inventory (short form) for mild, moderate and severe pain are 3 and 6. Pain management of community‐dwelling people with chronic pain can be improved.