The disability profile of primary health care users may vary depending on the type of care and musculoskeletal pain characteristics

Abstract

Background: One of the biggest current challenges for Primary Health Care is dealing with the increased demand for chronic diseases that have resulted in greater disabilities in the population.Objective: To investigate the relationship between sociodemographic factors, musculoskeletal pain and its characteristics and the type of care in primary health care with self-reported disability.Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study, interviewing individuals selected from spontaneous demand for health care in two types of care, the health center and family health. Disability was investigated using the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) 2.0 and characteristics of intensity, frequency, duration, number of pain sites and regions. Measures of association between predictors and disability were performed with non-parametric statistical tests, and non-parametric regression models were presented for pain characteristics and for the general population.Results: 6.0% of the overall sample had severe level of disability, health center users had more self-reported disability than family health users (p<0.001). Fewer years of life (p=0.034) and lower per capita income quintile (p=0.014) were associated with greater disability. The most intense pain and in the greatest number of places increased the disability score by 1.8 (CI95%=1.0-2.6) and 6.3 (CI95%=0.1-12.2) points, respectively.Conclusion: Users who had more disabilities sought out spontaneous demand care units of the health center type, had lower per capita income, presented musculoskeletal pain of worse intensity and in a greater number of places.