Pain medication management of musculoskeletal conditions at first presentation in primary care: analysis of routinely collected medical record data

Table 2 Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of patients prescribed each group of analgesic

	Pain medication prescribed
	Basic analgesic		Weak/moderate analgesic		NSAIDs		Strong analgesic
	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Total	321	24	239	18	637	47	147	11
	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Age (years)
15-29	85	26	28	12	96	15	15	10
30-44	73	23	66	28	250	39	59	40
45-59	79	24	77	32	221	35	51	35
60-74	53	17	44	18	65	10	19	13
75+	31	10	24	10	5	1	3	2
Gender
Females	137	43	118	49	230	36	66	45
Males	184	57	121	51	407	64	81	55
Previous musculoskeletal consultation^a
Yes	33	10	28	12	83	13	19	13
No	288	90	211	88	554	87	128	87
Previous analgesic prescription^b
Yes	40	12	49	21	127	20	28	19
No	281	88	190	79	510	80	119	81
Region of Pain
Back	64	20	114	48	203	32	84	57
Knee	44	14	11	5	84	13	5	3
Hip	10	3	13	5	38	6	7	5
Foot and Ankle	26	8	10	4	54	9	4	3
Arm	41	13	9	4	54	8	1	1
Shoulder	34	10	14	6	71	11	10	7
Neck	17	5	15	6	44	7	17	12
Other/unspecified	85	26	54	22	89	14	19	13
Co-morbidity^c
Yes	20	6	13	5	22	3	8	5
No	301	94	226	95	615	97	139	95
Deprivation
Most	146	46	123	52	277	43	78	53
Moderate	120	37	82	34	254	40	52	35
Least	55	17	34	14	106	17	17	12
Staff category
GPs	273	85	210	88	523	82	111	76
Other	48	15	29	12	114	18	36	24

Total % = n/1344, % = n/n.
^amusculoskeletal consultation 12–24 months before their 2006 consultation.
^bprescribed pain medication 12–24 months before their 2006 consultation.
^cdiabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), depression, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, gastro-intestinal, or neoplasm.

ISSN: 1471-2474