Prevalence of chronic pain based on primary health center data from a city in central India

Aims: To determine the prevalence of chronic pain based on primary health centre data from a city in central India. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out in 1674 patients who attended a Primary Health Centre(PHC) over a period of two months. Information regarding name, age, gender, occupation, chief complaints and its duration was obtained. Prevalence of chronic pain (pain more than 3 months) was analyzed with respect to age, gender and site of pain. Results: Out of 1674 patients, there were 496 patients with pain resulting into a prevalence of 29.63%. The prevalence of chronic pain amongst these patients was 19.23%. It was predominant in females and age group of 21-60 years. Prevalence of chronic back pain was highest ((24.84%), followed by body pain (22.98%), Knee (16.77%), Chest (13.97%), Upper limb (10.87%). Other pains had prevalence of less than 10%. Conclusion: Almost one third of the patients visiting PHC have pain as the chief complaint. Majority of them had chronic pains. Females report pain much more commonly than males. Surprisingly young and middle aged report chronic pain more than elderly. Further studies about the type of pain and its treatment are required to gain more insight into this health problem