Demographics, Pain Characteristics and Diagnostic Classification Profile of Chronic Non-Cancer Pain Patients Attending a Canadian University-Affiliated Community Pain Clinic

Lakha, S. Fatima; Deshpande, Amol; Assimakopoulos, Demetry; Mailis, Angela

doi:10.1007/s40122-021-00301-9

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our study sample included more females than males, and this difference was especially pronounced within the pediatric sample. Though this is in line with past research 7 and similar female-to-male ratios have been reported in adults 48 and children, 49 this gender bias may also reflect sex-based disparities in research participation, access to health care, and resource utilization among persons living with chronic pain. To limit the number of survey questions and respondent burden, we only asked the participants about their gender, not biological sex.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Patient-Reported Wait Times and the Impact of Living with Chronic Pain on their Quality of Life: A Waiting Room Survey in Chronic Pain Clinics in Ontario, Manitoba, and Quebec

Liddy,

Cooper,

Bellingham

et al. 2024

Canadian Journal of Pain

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Wait times at Canadian multidisciplinary pain clinics have been reported as excessive for nearly 2 decades. Aims The aim of this study was to gain insight into the patient experience of waiting for chronic pain specialty care. Methods A cross-sectional survey of new patients waiting for an appointment was conducted in six multidisciplinary pain clinics, including one pediatric clinic, in Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba between February 2020 and October 2022. Participants were asked about the length of time they waited for their appointment since being referred, their quality of life, health care professionals seen while waiting, and an open-ended question, “Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?” Results Among the 493 adult and 100 pediatric respondents, 53% of adults and 82% of children reported wait times under 6 months, whereas 22% of adults and 4% of children waited longer than a year. Between 52% and 63% of adults and 29% to 48% of children reported being affected by chronic pain “quite a bit” or “extremely” on measures of quality of life. The most visited health care professionals while waiting for a pain clinic appointment were family doctors/nurse practitioners for adults and physiotherapists for children. Qualitative analysis of open-ended question responses revealed eight themes: system navigation issues, administrative issues, decreased quality of life, distress, self-advocacy, coping strategies, communication, and distrust. Conclusions Our findings provide real-time regional snapshots into the impact of long wait times experienced by Canadians living with chronic pain. There is an urgent need to better support patients during the waiting period. Expanding technologies such as electronic consultation hold great promise.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Patient-Reported Wait Times and the Impact of Living with Chronic Pain on their Quality of Life: A Waiting Room Survey in Chronic Pain Clinics in Ontario, Manitoba, and Quebec

Liddy,

Cooper,

Bellingham

et al. 2024

Canadian Journal of Pain

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The preponderance of females in our study group is striking with a F/M ratio of 4.25/1 as opposed to 1.6/1 in our general population, as per our own recently published study [16]. However, female preponderance is supported by the existing literature in hospitalized patients.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Patient Presentations in a Community Pain Clinic after COVID-19 Infection or Vaccination: A Case-Series Approach

Mailis,

Kupferstein,

Assimakopoulos

et al. 2023

Clinics and Practice

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives: Early case report studies and anecdotes from patients, medical colleagues, and social media suggest that patients may present to chronic pain clinics with a number of complaints post COVID-19 infection or vaccination. The aim of this study is to systematically report on a consecutive series of chronic pain patients seen in a community-based pain clinic, who acquired symptoms after COVID-19 infection or vaccination. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study identified all patients seen at the clinic over a 4-month period (January–April 2022) with persistent symptoms after COVID-19 infection, vaccination, or both. Information was collected on sex, gender, age, details of vaccination, new pains, or exacerbation of old pain plus the development of novel symptoms. Results: The study identified 21 community dwellers (17 females and 4 males; F/M 4.25/1; age range 22–79 years; mean age 46.3 years), with symptoms attributed to COVID-19 infection or vaccination. Several patients suffered exacerbation of previous pains or developed novel pains, as well as high levels of anxiety and mood disorders. A review of the existing literature provides support for the spectrum of symptoms displayed by the study group. Conclusions: Information collected in this study will add to the body of COVID-19-related literature and assist particularly community practitioners in recognizing and managing these conditions.

show abstract

“…made solely on the basis of lack of detectable biomedical pathology (with current means available), but is based on clinical expert judgement that takes in account all sources of information (history, physical findings, behavioural observations, review of records, and laboratory/medical/surgical reports and findings). The aforementioned diagnostic classification has been explicitly described [12] and extensively used in previous publications from our group [12,[14][15][16][17][18]. A very small number of patients in both age groups in the present study were not given a diagnostic categorization because of lack of final diagnosis (e.g.…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of Older and Younger Patients Referred to a Non-interventional Community Pain Clinic in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)

2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim: To compare demographic and pain characteristics of older (C 65) vs younger (\ 65) chronic non-cancer pain patients referred to a community pain clinic in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Ontario, Canada. Methods: This is a retrospective study of 644 consecutive new patients with pain seen during 2016-2017 (older group n = 126; younger group n = 518). Demographic characteristics, Brief Pain Inventory pain ratings, and diagnosis were obtained using retrospective chart review. Patients were classified into group I (pure biomedical pathology), group II (mixed biomedical causes and psychological factors) and group III (no detectable physical pathology but psychological factors were considered important).Results: Older patients comprised 19.6% of the overall population (higher than the average GTA older population). Regarding older vs younger group, male/female ratio was 1:1.3 vs 1:1.7 respectively, while 71% of the older patients were foreign born vs 37% of the younger group (p \ 0.001). Low back was the most prevalent pain site for both groups; 70% of the older patients were classified as group I vs 35% of the younger patients (p \ 0.0001), and only 6% as group III (vs 18% of the younger population, p \ 0.05). Conclusion:The study points to considerable differences between younger and older patients with pain with the latter presenting with significant biomedical pathology but lesser psychopathology. The results are comparable to those obtained from a university pain clinic as well as a rural Northern Ontario clinic. Implications of the study for planning of pain care are discussed.

show abstract

Demographics, Pain Characteristics and Diagnostic Classification Profile of Chronic Non-Cancer Pain Patients Attending a Canadian University-Affiliated Community Pain Clinic

Cited by 6 publications

References 24 publications

Patient-Reported Wait Times and the Impact of Living with Chronic Pain on their Quality of Life: A Waiting Room Survey in Chronic Pain Clinics in Ontario, Manitoba, and Quebec

Patient-Reported Wait Times and the Impact of Living with Chronic Pain on their Quality of Life: A Waiting Room Survey in Chronic Pain Clinics in Ontario, Manitoba, and Quebec

Patient Presentations in a Community Pain Clinic after COVID-19 Infection or Vaccination: A Case-Series Approach

Comparison of Older and Younger Patients Referred to a Non-interventional Community Pain Clinic in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About