[Three-week multimodal inpatient treatment of children with chronic pain. First results of the long-term follow-up].
OBJECTIVE
In children and adolescents we investigated the impact of a 3-week inpatient multimodal pain therapy on subjective burden of life, pain intensity, and number of days off from school 3, 6, or 12 months later.


METHODS
At the beginning of therapy (inpatient setting) and 3, 6, and 12 months thereafter (outpatient setting) we collected the respective data using standardized questionnaires. For statistical analysis we used Wilcoxon's signed rank test. A p <0.05 was regarded as statistically significant.


RESULTS
A total of 72 patients aged 7.5-18.2 years suffering daily pain entered the study, most of them being diagnosed with somatoform pain disease. After 3, 6, and 12 months, 65, 27, and 30 patients could be reevaluated. Mean pain intensity of the week before data acquisition was significantly less than at the beginning (2.9, 2.3, and 2.9 vs 6.3) as was the mean number of days off from school due to pain during the 4-week period before each day of data acquisition (1.8, 1.5, and 1.4 vs 9.2). Mean subjective burden of life was significantly less than at the beginning (24.5, 22.0, and 25.8 vs 37.8).


CONCLUSIONS
Outpatient multimodal pain therapy has a sustained impact on children and adolescents suffering from chronic pain.
Dobe
M
M
Vodafone Stiftungsinstitut für Kinderschmerztherapie und pädiatrische Palliativmedizin, Vestische Kinder- und Jugendklinik der Universität Witten/Herdecke, Datteln. m.dobe@vr-web.de
Damschen
U
U
Reiffer-Wiesel
B
B
Sauer
C
C
Zernikow
B
B
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology; D059408:Pain Management; D013997:Time Factors