Perfil dos pacientes atendidos no centro multidisciplinar de dor do Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess chronic pain in a multidimensional way and examine its influence on socioeconomic status, functionality, quality of life and psychiatric disorders. METHODS: 103 patients from the Multidisciplinary Pain Center of the Hospital das Clínicas of UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais) were interviewed, by applying questionnaires on mobile devices and its own computer program. Socioeconomic data and tools for multidimensional pain assessment were collected. The population of the study was stratified into mild, moderate and severe pain, and subsequently descriptive, comparative and multivariate analyzes were performed in order to identify variables that contributed to the analyzed outcome. RESULTS: The patients had a median age of 55 years, were predominantly female, married, white and had completed high school. Most patients were retired due to disability and financial impacts presented correlations with pain intensity. Age was a risk factor for pain intensity, while gender, family income and duration of pain behaved as protective factors. The analysis showed severe disability and low quality of life for patients. 16.5% of the patients were diagnosed with anxiety, 13.59% with depression and 34.95% presented both anxiety and depression. Those with worse scores in psychosocial functioning were more likely to be associated with anxiety and depression, while patients with better results in quality of life were less likely to be associated with anxiety and depression. In the qualitative assessment of pain, using the McGill Questionnaire, patients with greater pain intensity had higher Pain Indexes in the affective component. There was a positive correlation between the McGill Pain Index and the presence of anxiety and depression and a negative correlation with quality-of- life assessment parameters. Of the entire group studied, 74.76% had severe difficulty sleeping. CONCLUSION: Chronic pain was associated with severe disability and leaving the job market, with the associated negative impact on financial condition. Age, gender, family income and duration of pain were directly linked to pain intensity. In the presence of symptoms of anxiety and depression, chronic pain generated severe functional and psychosocial disability, and also low quality of life, directly relating to pain intensity. Furthermore, the presence of anxiety and depression altered the qualitative assessment of pain, making it more unpleasant. Sleep disorders were very prevalent, posing as one more factor that contributed to the deterioration of quality of life.