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Barmer Medical Report More than three million Germans suffer from chronic pain
Millions of people in Germany suffer from chronic pain. Although their therapeutic care has made progress in recent years, it still has to be "significantly improved," concludes the "Barmer GEK Physician Report 2016". According to the Barmer GEK, this will provide valid figures based on health insurance data on the subject of "chronic pain" for the first time..
Many pain, according to the Barmer GEK can take on a chronic form. For example, the diagnoses of those affected include back pain, abdominal pain, pelvic pain, joint pain, headache, pain in the extremities, pain in the throat and chest, or eye pain. However, the chronic pain discussed here is independent of organ-related diagnoses. Overall, about 3.25 million people in Germany suffer from such chronic pain, according to the Barmer GEK. Therapeutic provision requires further improvements despite important progress.
Millions of Germans suffer from chronic pain and therapeutic care is often inadequate. (Image: underdogstudios / fotolia.com) Prevent chronic pain
Chronic pain is often "an independent disease that needs to be treated in a very specific way," said Barmer CEO GEK. Christoph Straub, at the presentation of the report in Berlin. With more than three million people affected, tackling chronic pain must become a national health goal. Here a continuous supply chain is necessary in order to prevent the chronification of pain by interdisciplinary cooperation as often as possible. In the opinion of Straub, the GPs were to take on a pilot function.
More and more people with chronic pain
According to the data provided by the Barmer GEK, data analyzes by the Aqua-Institut Göttingen took into account diagnoses that document chronic pain without direct reference to an organ. It was noted that in the years 2005 to 2014 "chronic pain was diagnosed more frequently." In 2005, only 1.59 percent of the population were affected, the rate of diagnosis in 2014 reached an average of 4.02 percent nationwide. In general, chronic pain was also documented "significantly more frequently in women (than men) in all age groups, with the number of those affected increasing with age," reports Barmer GEK.
Women affected significantly more often
The data showed that in the group of over-80s in 2014 about 13.2 percent of the population were affected by chronic pain, 143,000 men and 444,000 women. This has met a diagnostic rates of 9.3 percent for men and 15.2 percent for women, according to the announcement of the Barmer GEK. Among the over-90s, "about ten percent of men and just under 16 percent of women are affected, around 15,000 men and just under 83,000 women." In addition to the gender differences, there were also regional deviations. The report shows, for example, that "chronic pain in Germany is documented very differently in different regions." People in the state of Brandenburg are the most frequently affected (at 5.79 percent). The lowest rate, however, was documented in Bremen with 2.94 percent.
Many chronic pain patients do not receive adequate therapy
According to the CEO of Barmer GEK, many things have changed in the care of chronic pain patients in recent years. However, shows a differentiated picture of pain medicine. By no means all sufferers receive adequate therapy. Although the number of patients treated with multimodal pain therapy in the hospital more than doubled in the years 2006 to 2014, in 2014 around 60,000 patients were treated with multimodal chronic pain. But this corresponds to only one-fifth of all patients who would potentially be suitable for such a therapy, reports Straub. Especially with regard to quality, the provision of multimodal pain therapy is not sufficiently ensured. "We are therefore intensively supporting the efforts of the specialist associations to develop binding quality criteria for multimodal pain therapy in hospitals," stresses Straub.
Outpatient treatments are increasing
Based on the data analysis of 8.6 million insured persons, the doctor's report of Barmer GEK also illustrates further developments in the healthcare sector. For example, outpatient care has increased significantly. According to the Barmer GEK report, in 2014 every German resident visited around two physicians per quarter on average. With 8.5 treatment cases per capita, the number of cases in 2014 reached a new high since 2005. The health insurance companies had incurred an average of 522.96 euros in costs for the outpatient medical care of their insured in 2014. This represents an increase of 3.5 percent compared to 2013. "As in previous years, men's expenses at 450 euros were much lower in 2014 than for women at 593 euros," continued Barmer GEK. In 2014, according to the latest figures, "92.9 percent of the population had contact with outpatient medical care," the health insurance company continues.
Men show little tendency to early cancer detection
It is also clear from the figures in the current medical report that cancer screening continues to be claimed by women much more frequently. "58 percent of women between the ages of 20 and 45 have used them," says the Barmer GEK. With increasing age, however, the willingness of women to participate in the screening tests decreases. From the age of 75, it is below 40 percent. In total, 41 percent of all women in Germany had a cancer screening test in 2014, while only 11.7 percent of men took part in such an examination. (Fp)