{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,20]],"date-time":"2025-11-20T18:54:25Z","timestamp":1763664865766,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,22]],"date-time":"2022-06-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1655856000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Neuraxpharm Spain, S.L."}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>A multicenter cross-sectional study was designed to assess the quality of treatment of 1190 patients with chronic pain at the time of referral to a specialized pain unit. A total of 119 physicians from 77 pain units throughout Spain collected 23 indicators of the quality of care from 10 consecutive clinical records of chronic pain patients (5 men, 5 women). Degenerative spinal diseases (38.6%) and lumbosciatic pain (29.8%) were the most common etiologies. At the time of referral to the pain unit, 9.8% of patients were not receiving any analgesic treatment. Treatment was modified in 88.1% of the patients by adding adjuvant drugs, adding opioids or increasing the doses of analgesic medications, and using analgesic techniques. Women had higher percentages of osteoarthritis, headache and fibromyalgia as the cause of pain, longer duration of pain and severe pain intensity, and a higher proportion of changes in the diagnosis of the underlying condition with which they had been referred to the pain unit. Improvements should be made in the patient management and referral protocols not only in the clinics prior to patient referral to the pain unit, but also in the pain units themselves.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm11133586","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,22]],"date-time":"2022-06-22T21:31:06Z","timestamp":1655933466000},"page":"3586","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Assessment of the Management of Patients with Chronic Pain Referred to a Specialized Pain Unit: A Cross-Sectional Multicenter Study (the DUO Project)"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"V\u00edctor","family":"Mayoral Rojals","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Pain Unit, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, IDIBELL, L\u2019Hospitalet de Llobregat, 08907 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"\u00c1ngeles","family":"Can\u00f3s Verdecho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pain Unit, Hospital Universitari i Polit\u00e9cnic La Fe, 46026 Valencia, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5853-2307","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bego\u00f1a","family":"Soler L\u00f3pez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical Department, E-C-BIO, S.L., Las Rozas, 28230 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"name":"the Team DUO","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"137","DOI":"10.1097\/SPC.0b013e328345a3ec","article-title":"Management of chronic pain in primary care","volume":"5","author":"Smith","year":"2011","journal-title":"Curr. 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