The DOI matches its Crossref record; 15 of the 15 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The high prevalence of pain in emergency medical care
Abstract
Although there is a widely held belief that pain is the number 1 complaint in emergency medical care, few studies have actually assessed the prevalence of pain in the emergency department (ED). We conducted an analysis of secondary data by using explicit data abstraction rules to determine the prevalence of pain in the ED and to classify the location, origin, and duration of the pain. This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted at an urban teaching hospital in Indianapolis, IN. Charts from 1,665 consecutive ED visits during a 7-day period were reviewed. Pain was defined as the word pain or a pain equivalent word (including aching, burning, and discomfort) recorded on the chart. Of the 1,665 visits, 61.2% had pain documented anywhere on the chart, 34.1% did not have pain, and 4.7% were procedures. Pain was a chief complaint for 52.2% of the visits. This high prevalence of pain has important implications for the allocation of resources as well as educational and research efforts in emergency medical care.
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“They also have a considerably higher level of use of emergency and unscheduled care than patients without chronic pain [20, 21] risking a care plan dictated by short-term decision making rather than comprehensive oversight of their pain as a whole [22].”
From Identification and Management of Chronic Pain in Primary Care: a Review (2016) · cites this paper as [21]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Cordell, W. H., Keene, K. K., Giles, B. K., Jones, J. B., Jones, J. H., & Brizendine, E. J.
- Affiliations
- Indiana University Indianapolis (US)
- Venue
- The American Journal of Emergency Medicine
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2002-05
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 165-169
- ISSN
- 0735-6757 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2087559496
- Cited by
- 571
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 23 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 36 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 34 · 2018: 35 · 2017: 37 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 31 · 2014: 38 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 9.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The American Journal of Emergency Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Emergency Medicine › Emergency and Acute Care Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Emergency Medicine › Trauma and Emergency Care Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Emergency Medicine › Emergency Medicine Education and Research
- Keywords
- pain prevalence, emergency department visits, chief complaint, pain localization, pain duration, pain etiology, resource allocation
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Child, Child, Preschool, Cross-Sectional Studies, Emergency Service, Hospital, Female, Humans, Indiana, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Male, Middle Aged, Pain, Pain Measurement, Retrospective Studies, Observer Variation, Prevalence
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