Prevalence of pain in adults admitted to Catalonian hospitals: A cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: To survey the prevalence of pain in patients admitted to different hospitals of Catalonia and to describe which factors are related to pain. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed in 1675 patients from fifteen hospitals in Catalonia (Spain). Clinical and demographic data, as well as the existence of pain intensity evaluations and analgesic therapy, were obtained from medical charts. Characteristics of pain were given by patients after being interviewed by trained interviewers. The main-outcome measure was the existence of pain (at the interview, in the previous 24h, at the admission and at any time after admission) that was assessed by a visual analogue scale (VAS). The relationship of prevalence of pain to patients' characteristics was carried out by means of a multiple-logistic-regression model with pain presence as the dependent variable of interest. RESULTS: A great variability in the prevalence and intensity of pain among different hospitals was observed. At the time of the interview, 48.5% (95% CI: 46.1-50.9%) of the patients had pain and the median VAS was 40mm (range: 10-100mm), and the prevalence of pain during the previous 24h was similar (47.6%; 95% CI: 45.2-50%). At admission, 26.7% (95% CI: 24.6-28.8%) of patients were in pain, whereas 62% (95% CI: 59.7-64.3%) reported having pain at some time during their stay. Pain intensity annotations were absent in 51.3% (95% CI: 47.9-54.7%) of the medical records of the patients with pain. The factors associated with pain were younger age, female gender, presence of surgery, orthopaedic surgery wards, large hospital and prescribed analgesics. CONCLUSION: A high prevalence of clinically relevant pain in in-patients was found as well as a great variability according to type of patients, clinical wards and hospitals. This study gives clear evidence of the lack of adequate management of pain in the majority of the hospitals and calls for the implementation of organisational and educational measurements that may settle this epidemic problem.