P3 survey: 44% of U.S. patients receive inadequate relief of moderate-to-severe acute pain

Findings from the Physicians Partnering Against Pain (P3) Survey, one of the largest pain management surveys of physicians and patients in the United States, also show that this undertreatment was particularly prevalent among adults aged 75 and older (52%).

Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC, formerly Ortho-McNeil Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC, funded the survey.  An online version of the article, published in the July/August issue of the Journal of Opioid Management, may be found here.

"This large-scale survey gives us much greater insight into pain management in the real world, confirming that acute pain is widely undertreated, particularly among the older population," said Paul Chang, M.D., Vice President, Medical Affairs, Internal Medicine, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  

The P3 survey focused on U.S. physicians and their patients with moderate-to-severe acute pain and was designed to evaluate patient perceptions of the adequacy of analgesia and the influence of opioid-related side effects in outpatient pain management.  Undertreatment of pain in older adults is a well-known problem in the United States and older adult patients may not receive opioids due to many reasons, including poor assessment of pain and adverse effects, as well as concerns about tolerance, physical dependence, and addiction.

The analysis evaluated patient-reported measures, including adequacy of pain medication through a pain management index (PMI) score, adverse effects, and actions to manage gastrointestinal adverse effects during opioid treatment. While all three age cohorts in the study reported inadequate analgesia, older patients were significantly more likely than younger patients to have inadequate pain relief, which was seen in 43 percent, 46 percent, and 52 percent of patients aged under 65, 65 to 74, 75 years and older, respectively.

Results of this survey, including data from 50,869 patients who submitted the survey between September and November 2008, are consistent with previous reports from smaller studies in other settings.