The life of patients with chronic pain

The pain, especially chronic pain, can influence many aspects of life. It is not only physical factors, but also psychic and social factors that can affect its perception. The long-term pain can handicap the patients not only in the somatic area, but can also have a negative effect on social and psychological position in society, family or at work. Nowadays, chronic pain seems to become more common, its severity is increasing and that is why there is also a progress in the field of treatment methods. The treatment of chronic pain is often very complicated and full recovery can hardly be achieved. Above all, the main goal is to decrease the intensity o pain, improve patient{\crq}s quality of life and to assist in increasing patient{\crq}s independency. The aim of the proposed thesis was to describe the quality of life of the patients with chronic pain, treated in the ambulatory departments for the treatment of pain and to verify the hypothesis that the patients with chronic pain present with lower scores of quality of life in comparison with the domain scores of the common population. The quantitative research on quality of life of patients with chronic pain was evaluated using the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire by the World Health Organization that is intended for evaluation of quality of life. The questionnaire inquiry was performed during the period from November 2008 to February 2009 an two workplaces {--} at the Ambulatory department for the treatment of pain in České Budějovice (private facility) and at the Ambulatory department for the treatment of pain of Nemocnice České Budějovice, a.s. The cohort contained data form 73 respondents. The cohort was further subdivided into age and gender categories. The average raw scores of single domains and two independent items were calculated, evaluating the overall quality of life and satisfaction with health. The basic descriptive statistics was calculated and correlation analysis was performed. Furthermore, the differences between the gender and age categories were calculated. The thesis revealed the lower scores of quality of life in respondents with chronic diseases in comparison to the domain scores of the common population. Furthermore, significant relations were observed between the Physical Health Domain and independent item Quality of Life, respectively between the domain Enjoyment and item Quality of Life. The comparison of the domain scores in men and women did not reveal any statistically significant differences, there were only minute differences between the age categories. The perception of quality of life in the patients with chronic pain is tightly associated with their enjoyments, as confirmed by the results of the correlation analysis. Therefore, I would recommend the more thorough psychosomatic approach for the treatment of pain at the ambulatory departments for chronic pain, but also in the offices of general practitioners, who are the first to meet the patients suffering from pain and frequently it is them, whose education about adequate treatment is crucial