Evaluation of demographic characteristics, diagnosis and treatment of patients admitted to Fırat University Hospital Algology Clinic

ABSTRACT EVALUATION OF DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS, DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF PATIENTS ADMITTED TO FIRAT UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL ALGOLOGY CLINIC Pain is seen as a universal problem that concerns the individual and thus the society. Pain clinics play an important role in solving this universal problem and contributing to social productivity by increasing the quality of life of individuals. Today, the increasing number of pain clinics and the results obtained with multidisciplinary approach to pain treatment provide hope for pain treatment and increase the quality of life of patients. In our study, we aimed to determine the services we provide, to question the efficiency of these services, to further improve our services, and to reveal the similarities and differences of the sociodemographic characteristics and pain conditions of the patient population applying to our outpatient clinic with other pain studies conducted in the world and in our country by examining the records of patients who applied to our Algology Department outpatient clinic for the first time with pain complaints. It was determined that the majority of the patients who applied to our outpatient clinic were female (62.2%), the obesity rate was 24.7% and obesity was more common in the female gender. It was observed that 69% of the patients were in the age group >45 years, most of them had chronic pain and described the frequency of pain as continuous. Patients with pain were predominantly educated at the primary school level and had mostly received treatment before presenting to our outpatient clinic. 58.7% of the patients presented to our outpatient clinic spontaneously without any clinic consultation or reference. The mean Visual Analog Scale (VAS) value of our patients complaining of pain was 6.64. Smoking and tobacco use was 33.4%, higher in males. Comorbidity was detected in 69.8% of the patients. Patients frequently complained of non-cancerous causes such as low back pain (65.8%), neck pain (18.9%) and knee pain (6.6%), and low back pain constituted the largest group among the diagnoses. When we analyzed the pain treatments applied in our clinic, it was found that weak opioids were primarily preferred and 53.3% of the patients underwent interventional pain treatment. In conclusion, the sociodemographic characteristics of our patients who applied to our pain outpatient clinic were generally parallel to other similar studies. In the treatment of pain, we think that interventional pain treatment applied in addition to well-planned medical treatment can prevent the chronicization of pain by relieving the pain of patients, thus preventing the loss of workforce due to chronic pain. Key Words: Pain, Pain Clinics, Sociodemographic Characteristics, Multimodal Analgesia