Dressing-realted pain in patients with chronic wounds; an international patient perspective

ABSTRACT: This cross-sectional international survey assessed patients’ perceptions of their wound pain. A total of 2018 patients (57% female) from 15 different countries with a mean age of 68
6 years (SD ¼ 15
4) participated. The wounds were categorised into ten different types with a mean wound duration of 19
6 months (SD ¼ 51
8). For 2018 patients, 3361 dressings/compression systems were being used, with antimicrobials being reported most frequently (n ¼ 605). Frequency of wound-related pain was reported as 32
2%, ‘never’ or ‘rarely’, 31
1%, ‘quite often’ and 36
6%, ‘most’ or ‘all of the time’, with venous and arterial ulcers associated with more frequent pain (P ¼ 0
002). All patients reported that ‘the wound itself’ was the most painful location (n ¼ 1840). When asked if they experienced dressing-related pain, 286 (14
7%) replied ‘most of the time’ and 334 (17
2%) reported pain ‘all of the time’; venous, mixed and arterial ulcers were associated with more frequent pain at dressing change (P , 0
001). Eight hundred and twelve (40
2%) patients reported that it took ,1 hour for the pain to subside after a dressing change, for 449 (22
2%) it took 1–2 hours, for 192 (9
5%) it took 3–5 hours and for 154 (7
6%) patients it took more than 5 hours. Pain intensity was measured using a visual analogue scale (VAS) (0–100) giving a mean score of 44
5 (SD ¼ 30
5, n ¼ 1981). Of the 1141 who reported that they generally took pain