Survey Results

What types of pain did patients experience?

• All patients who completed the survey had a pain rating of >5–10 on a pain scale at the screening stage, where 0 = no pain and 10 = the worst pain imaginable. We found the average level of pain participants experienced was 7 out of 10 for most days during an average week.
• This means that the majority of people enrolled are being treated for their pain, but still suffering moderate to severe pain on most days.
• The most common type of pain is back pain/lower back pain (29%), followed by osteoarthritis (25%).
• The experience of pain is highly subjective, and patients’ descriptions vary, from aching to burning to shooting pain. See patients’ descriptions of their pain.

• 43% of participants reported fluctuating pain, sometimes within the same day. Possible reasons that patients gave for this included:
  • They get used to the disease and develop good pain management.
  • It is related to the type of work they do during the day.
  • Many do not take their medication as prescribed.
  • It is affected by changes in the weather.