[Pain treatment decisions--relevance of health-related quality of life in family medicine]

Abstract

Background: The reduction of pain is no longer regarded as the predominant objective of pain therapy. Pain-related impairments in quality of life or daily activities, and anxietyand depression--all of which worsen with progressing pain chronification--increasingly gain importance. Impairments in quality of life in particular often have a greater impact on patients afflicted by pain than by other chronic diseases.

Method: The present overview explains the importance of the parameter health-related quality of life in the treatment of pain patients in family medicine; in addition, a variety of tools forthe initial and follow-up assessment of pain and pain-related impairments are introduced.

Results and conclusion: In addition to a mandatory comprehensive pain diagnostic work-up, pain-related restrictions in daily activities and in quality of life should be documented in primary care facilities and considered in pain management approaches. In a multimodal therapy setting, family practitioners have a key role in thediagnosis of pain and in particularalso in the diagnosis of additional symptoms and impairments accompanying pain.