RELATIONSHIP AND REFLECTIONS ON QUALITY OF LIFE IN THE TREATMENT OF CHRONIC PAIN IN MILITARY POLICE: Patient-Expected Results (PRO)

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.1594792421087

• Palavras-chave: Chronic pain, patient-reported outcome measures, quality of life.

• Keywords: Chronic pain, patient-reported outcome measures, quality of life.

• Abstract:

  Workers' health problems can impact their performance at work, with depression, arthritis and low back pain being strongly associated with limitations at work. Arthritis and low back pain are health conditions that are among the most common causes of chronic pain. This, in turn, impacts the individual's physical, social and emotional functioning, affecting their performance at work. The results reported by patients, known as PROs (patient-reported outcomes), provide data on the impact of pain and the effects of treatments performed, promoting symptom reduction and better control of physical functioning. The aim of this research is to highlight the importance of chronic pain related to productivity at work and the participation of PROs in improving the health and quality of life of military police officers, civilian employees and dependents. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to describe the chronic pain situation of military police officers, civilian employees and dependents treated at a Military Police Hospital (HPM), to analyze absenteeism due to chronic pain among military police officers, to analyze care for chronic pain at HPM and to describe PRO measures, covering aspects of functionality that can promote quality of life for military police officers. This is an essay based on the author's vast experience as a doctor specializing in Rheumatology and dealing with chronic diseases that cause pain that lasts, causing a chronic pain situation. A total of 641 military police officers were dismissed in the first half of 2023 due to diseases related to chronic pain, of which 551 were men, aged 21 to 62 years, mean 39.7 ± 7.6. A total of 813 medical certificates and 2,588 days of absence were issued, with a predominance of men, 2,160 days away. The most frequent diseases were dorsopathies, arthropathies and soft tissue disorders represented by low back pain, arthralgia and/or arthritis and fibromyalgia. Regarding medical care, in 2022, 1,020 consultations were carried out in the areas of Orthopedics and Rheumatology, specialties that deal with chronic pain. The most frequent reasons were joint pain, low back pain and cervical pain. 499 military police officers were treated, 370 dependents and 151 civilian employees. With these data, the use of PROs in the context of chronic pain can be a useful tool for diagnosis, monitoring symptoms, therapeutic response or even for scientific research. 
  Several of them are described as measures of physical performance and functioning. Finally, it is recommended that PROs be used in the clinical practice of specialists who treat patients with chronic pain.