Selecting patients for pain treatment: applying a model to epidemiological data

In a postal survey, 1,009 randomly chosen individuals, aged 18-84, were asked about their pain problems. The pain prevalence depended on the kind of questions and definitions used, but prevalence was high overall. In the present study, a model for selecting individuals in need of care was tested. Fifteen percent of individuals were defined as having considerable pain and 25% as having moderate pain. At least 12% of the population was calculated as having sufficient pain problems to need some kind of care. This high figure indicates that the establishment of special treatment facilities can never be sufficient to meet the total demand for care due to pain.