First EFIC® Symposium Societal Impact of Pain - SIP

Ian Power
Prof. Ian Power BSc (Hons) MD FRCA
FFPMANZCA FANZCA FRCS Ed FRCP Edin
Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain Medicine
College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
University of Edinburgh, Scotland
REAL WORLD DATA TO ASSESS IMPACT OF
PAIN; OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY
OF ONGOING STUDIES IN THE UK
Real word data is becoming increasingly important
in evaluating treatments, interventions
and services within the healthcare sector.
Where traditionally new treatments were presented
to market with a wealth of randomized
control trial data this, in isolation, is no longer
sufficient to ensure new treatments are
adopted quickly to give access to the patients
who need them most. In addition burden of illness
cannot be assessed without the use of
real world data. In the area of pain management,
patient pathways and treatment algorithms
are complex and varied and there is a
clear need to evaluate current practice in order
to inform improvements where these are possible.
A program of real world studies have been initiated
in the UK, involving key centres across
all four countries to collect data on the routine
management of chronic pain. The studies are
an example of collaborative working between
the NHS and the pharmaceutical industry.
The first study focuses on the overall burden
of illness by collecting resource use and pathway
data associated with chronic pain from
primary care practice records. This study will
provide top line data on secondary care resource
use as far as is possible from primary
care sources. However, to supplement this, the
second study focuses on resource use and patient
pathways associated with the same group
of patients within specialist secondary care
pain clinics. Both studies were granted central
ethics approval in the UK in early 2010 and
data is being collected currently. Further details
on objectives, methodology and interim results
will be presented and discussed.
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