The High Burden of Acute and Chronic Pain in General Practice in French-Speaking Belgium.

BACKGROUND: Chronic pain prevalence is very high in the general population, much higher than can be managed by chronic pain centers. Therefore, most pain patients are cared for by first-line professionals. However, general practitioners often feel ill at ease with these patients, and only a few studies assess the burden of chronic pain in general practice. To better estimate the resources needed to support these professionals, a good knowledge of (sub)acute and chronic pain prevalence and prognosis in general practices is needed. METHODS: We report cross-sectional data from a larger longitudin... Mehr ...