BACKGROUND: A patient-orientated therapy management for patients with severe chronic pain includes effective analgesia, improvement of health related quality of life and improvement of functionality. PATIENTS AND METHOD: In this prospective, non-interventional trial in 630 patients with severe chronic pain mostly due to chronic low back pain or gonarthrosis, treatment with tapentadol retard was evaluated with respect to its effects on analgesia, functionality and quality of life. Collected data included pain intensity, painDETECT,SF-12, FFbH-R and FFbH-OA. RESULTS: Mean pain intensity decreased significantly (NRS-3: -3.2 points, p < or = 0.001) and in 47.9% of the patients the mean pain intensity was reduced by at least 50%. Health-related quality of life and functionality improved significantly. Tolerability was good. The known tolerability profile of tapentadol retard could be confirmed. CONCLUSION: In this study in real-life-setting tapentadol was effective in terms of analgesic effect but also in terms of improvementof health-related quality of life and functionality, leading to a benefit for the patient in daily life.
BACKGROUND: A patient-orientated therapy management for patients with severe chronic pain includes effective analgesia, improvement of health related quality of life and improvement of functionality. PATIENTS AND METHOD: In this prospective, non-interventional trial in 630 patients with severe chronic pain mostly due to chronic low back pain or gonarthrosis, treatment with tapentadol retard was evaluated with respect to its effects on analgesia, functionality and quality of life. Collected data included pain intensity, painDETECT,SF-12, FFbH-R and FFbH-OA. RESULTS: Mean pain intensity decreased significantly (NRS-3: -3.2 points, p < or = 0.001) and in 47.9% of the patients the mean pain intensity was reduced by at least 50%. Health-related quality of life and functionality improved significantly. Tolerability was good. The known tolerability profile of tapentadol retard could be confirmed. CONCLUSION: In this study in real-life-setting tapentadol was effective in terms of analgesic effect but also in terms of improvementof health-related quality of life and functionality, leading to a benefit for the patient in daily life.