Pain prevalance among adults in Turkey

Abstract

This study is a cross-sectional survey held between February 1999 and October 1999, in order to define the pain prevalance among adults in Turkey. The survey was carried out in nine months in 15 cities selected from five demographic regions of the country and a questionnaire consisting of 28 questions was applied to 3001 participants in face to face fashion. The pain prevalance among adults in Turkey is 63.7 %. The prevalance increases with age and is higher in females, urban society and western region (p<0.001). Nearly half of the pain suffering (44.6 %) is occuring almost everyday, nearly a quarter (24.6 %) is lasting for 4-12 hours and 26.0 is irresistible pain (p<0.001). 76.6 % of pain is chronicle and chronic pain is more frequent in Western and Middle Anatolian Regions, urban areas, 35-44 years and females (p<0.001). First mentioned painful region by the participants are head (34.4 %), low-back (14.1 %), lower-extremity (12.0 %) and abdomen (10.9 %). Headache is more frequent in females, urban society, and Western and Middle Anatolian Regions whereas lower-extremity pain is more frequent in males and rural society. 48.9 % of the participants couldn’t define the reason (factor) initiating their pain or mentioned spontaneous beginning. Of the participants having pain as a complaint (n=1906), 12.3 % has the history of visiting an emergency clinic because of pain, in the last three months and 4.1 % has the history of hospitalization because of pain, in the last three months