Prevalence of Pain and Its Characteristics in Hospitalized Patients in an Indian Teaching Hospital

• Published in: Pain management nursing 2020-06, Vol.21 (3), p.299-303
• Main Authors: Das, Saroj Kumar, Dhar, Sovan Sarang, Panigrahi, Ansuman
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data; Hospitals, Teaching - organization & administration; Hospitals, Teaching - statistics & numerical data; Humans; India; Male; Middle Aged; Nursing; Odds Ratio; Pain - diagnosis; Pain - epidemiology; Pain Management - methods; Pain Management - statistics & numerical data; Prevalence; Prospective Studies
• ISSN: 1524-9042; 1532-8635
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pmn.2019.06.005

Pain has a great impact on the physical and mental condition of hospitalized patients, reduces quality of life, and increases economic burden. The study aimed to determine pain prevalence, its characteristics, analgesic treatment, and associated factors for severity and chronicity of pain in hospitalized patients. A cross-sectional study was carried out including 847 eligible adult in-patients, aged ≥18 years, admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, India, from June to August 2018. Pain severity was evaluated by visual analog scale (VAS) at the time of interview and after 1 week/completion of pain treatment. The prevalence of pain during the 24 hours preceding the interview was 70.6%. The duration of pain was ≥4 weeks in 162 (27.1%) patients and severe (VAS ≥ 7) in 144 (24.1%) patients. The mean VAS score was 6.27 ± 1.97 at the time of interview and 3.31 ± 1.89 after 1 week/completion of pain treatment (p