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British Journal of Anaesthesia, 2004, Vol. 92, No. 3 326-328
© 2004 The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia

Editorial III

Opioids for persistent non-cancer pain: recommendations for clinical practice

K. H. Simpson1

1 St James’s University Hospital, Leeds LS9 7TF, UK E-mail: karen.simpson{at}dsl.pipex.com

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Pain is the commonest symptom that causes patients to seek health care. Pain is described as persistent when it has been present for about 3 months. Pain may be constant, for example low back pain, osteoarthritis, and post-herpetic neuralgia, or episodic, for example sickle cell crises, osteoporotic fractures, and pancreatitis. Persistent pain affects all age groups, but is commoner in the elderly, when co-existing pathology may limit prescribing and other therapies. The prevalence of persistent pain in the population is difficult to quantify, partly because of problems with case definition; several studies suggest that it occurs in about 10% of people.1 A postal survey of 4600 patients in Scotland who were randomly selected from a general practice database, showed that 16% were moderately to severely disabled by persistent pain.2 In a follow-up study, by the same group, of persistent pain in more than 2000 patients in primary care, 79% of . . . [Full Text of this Article]


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 Br J AnaesthHome page
N. M. Gajraj and K. H. Simpson
Opioids for non-cancer pain
Br. J. Anaesth., July 1, 2004; 93(1): 149 - 149.
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