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Updated: May 1, 2026
Determining Pain Detection and Tolerance Thresholds Using an Integrated, Multi-Modal Pain Task Battery
Published on: April 14, 2016
Study to evaluate the profile of patients attending pain units in Spanish hospitals for the first time (PANDHORA
Antonio Montero1, Daniel Samper, Javier Vidal
1Department of Anesthesiology, Pain Unit, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol de Badalona, Barcelona, Spain.
Unlabelled:
SUMMARY
Aim:
To define the sociodemographic and clinical profile of patients attending the pain unit for the first time.
Patients & Methods:
Cross-sectional epidemiological survey of 823 patients included by 165 physicians from 107 pain units in Spanish hospitals.
Results:
Mean ± standard deviation age was 59 ± 15.1 years; 66.4% were women. The referring clinicians were orthopedic specialists (35.1% of patients) and general practitioners (24.9% of patients). Mean pain intensity (visual numeric scale) was 7 ± 1.8 points. Pain lasted 3-12 months in 33.7% of patients. Pain was noncancer-related in 96.3% and musculoskeletal-based in 68.6% and affected mainly the lumbar area (55.3%) and the lower limbs (40.8%). On their first visit, 7.8% of patients had not received analgesics, whereas 55.2% were taking NSAIDs, 45.1% paracetamol, 31.6% weak opioids and 15.7% strong opioids.
Conclusion:
Musculoskeletal pain was predominantly chronic, long-lasting, lumbar and more common in women. NSAIDs are the drugs most commonly prescribed by referring clinicians. Before attending the pain unit, strong opioids and antiepileptic drugs are used much less frequently.
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