RESEARCH REPORT POSTER DISPLAY

PREVALENCE OF PAIN IN EMBU POPULATION, SAO PAULO, BRAZIL. Assumpção A, Cavalcante A, Sauer J, Chalot S, Capela C, Marques A; Physiotherapy, Speech and Ocupational Therapy Department of Medicine School of University of Sao Paulo

PURPOSE: Pain is a frequent symptom controlled and produced by sensory, motivational and cognitive systems that have being described as an unpleasant sensation. Pain can be classified by duration in chronic and acute pain and by location in regional and widespread pain. The aim of this study was to assess pain in the Embu population of São Paulo, Brazil. RELEVANCE: Pain is the most important symptom to physical therapy and often used like guidelines for effectiveness of treatment. Epidemiology pain studies provide information on pain that can be used by physiotherapists to propose prevention and treatment actions. PARTICIPANTS: The sample was selected from individuals in primary health care, aged between 35 and 60 years in 2003, summing 3109 subjects. In this sample, 2269 people had a telephone number. METHODS: Of all 2269 subjects with phone number, we interviewed 768 with questions about presence of pain, location of pain and time of pain. The subjects were classified in three groups related to pain location: No Pain (NP), Regional Pain (RP) and Widespread Pain (WP), in accordance with the American College of Rheumatology. ANALYSIS: The data were analysed descriptive statistics. The prevalence of chronic widespread pain was calculated by Bayesian Analyses. RESULTS: The mean age of sample was 48 years (7.2) and women are predominant (77%). The SD group was composed by 185 subjects, the RP group by 388 subjects and WP groups by 195 subjects. In all groups women were more prevalent than men, but the major frequency of female gender was observed in the WP group. In people with pain, the chronic pain was more commom, 69.5%. The body parts more painful were thighs (37%), legs (35%) and lumbar spine (34%). The prevalence of chronic widespread pain was 24% [95% CI: 21-27%]. CONCLUSIONS: Pain is frequent in Embu population and probably associated with socio-demographic factors. The prevalence of chronic widespread pain was higher than in other published studies. The body parts more frequently painful had already been described by other authors. IMPLICATIONS: This study showed that pain is common in the Embu population and the public health system in general, and physiotherapists in particular, might propose forms to diminish it. In this way, it is important to recognize the characteristics of pain population and the more frequent location of pain. KEYWORDS: Chronic pain, Widespread pain, Pain, Epidemiology. FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Fundação para Amparo a Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento do Estado de São Paulo – FAPESP (Sao Paulo State Fundation for Research and Development Support); Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq (National Committee of Scientific and Tecnology Development). CONTACT: anassumpcao@gmail.com

ETHICS COMMITTEE: Ethics Committee for Analyses of Research Studies of Clinical Hospital of Medicine School of University of Sao Paulo (process: 161/2004)