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. 2019 Jul 30:12:2379-2390.
doi: 10.2147/JPR.S206519. eCollection 2019.

Factors associated with waiting times for persons with rheumatic conditions in multidisciplinary pain treatment facilities

Simon Deslauriers  1   2 , Jean-Sébastien Roy  1   2 , Sasha Bernatsky  3   4   5 , Debbie E Feldman  6   7   8 , Anne Marie Pinard  1   2   9 , François Desmeules  6   10 , Mary-Ann Fitzcharles  3   4 , Kadija Perreault  1   2
Affiliations

Factors associated with waiting times for persons with rheumatic conditions in multidisciplinary pain treatment facilities

Simon Deslauriers et al. J Pain Res. .

Abstract

Objectives: Access to multidisciplinary pain treatment facilities (MPTF) in Canada is limited by long waiting lists. However, little is known about the factors associated with access to MPTF specifically for persons with rheumatic conditions. This study aimed to 1) determine the waiting time for services in publicly funded MPTF for persons with rheumatic conditions in the province of Quebec, Canada, as well as 2) identify the factors associated with waiting time.

Methods: This study was conducted using the Quebec Pain Registry, a large database of patients who received pain management services in MPTF. Sociodemographic and clinical variables were assessed for potential associations with waiting time. Descriptive, bivariate analyses and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted.

Results: A total of 3,665 patients with rheumatic conditions were identified within the registry. Patients had a mean age of 55±14 years and the majority were women (65.7%). The average waiting time was 241.2±308.9 days (median=126), with 34.2% of the patients waiting longer than 6 months before having a first appointment. Results indicate that longer pain duration, lower household income, pain onset following a motor vehicle accident, having fibromyalgia, being on permanent disability or unemployed and being referred by a family physician (versus specialist) were significantly associated with longer waiting times.

Conclusions: Many patients with rheumatic conditions (especially fibromyalgia) face long delays before receiving services in Quebec's MPTF. This study identified several factors associated with waiting time and emphasizes the need to improve access to pain management services.

Keywords: access; chronic pain; multidisciplinary pain treatment facilities; rheumatic conditions; waiting time.

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr Anne Marie Pinard reports grants from Medisca, personal fees from Allergan and Paladin Labs, speaker fees from Purdue Pharma, Allergan and Paladins Labs outside the submitted work and has served as a member of the external advisory board to Purdue Pharma and Paladin Labs. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.

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