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Osteoarthritis pain assessment in family practice
Purpose:
The objective is to study the assessment of pain severity, following the conventional family physician routines, in patients with peripheral osteoarthritis.
Methods:
The patient's perception of pain and the physician's assessment of the pain were measured by means of questionnaires and were compared in a study population of 198 patients with osteoarthritis.
Results:
A rather low association was found between a patient's perception of pain and the physician's assessment of pain.
Conclusions:
It is an accepted fact that too much treatment can have undesirable effects, and that inadequate management of symptoms seems to be associated with a reduced quality of life in osteoarthritic patients. In the absence of a high correlation between patient's perception and physician's assessment of pain severity, it is concluded that a patients' pain questionnaire could be a very useful instrument for improving the care given to patients with osteoarthritis in family practice.