Berlin, February 23, 2016 – In Germany, approximately 3.25 million people suffer from chronic pain. Despite significant progress, their care still needs considerable improvement. This is the conclusion of the BARMER GEK Physician Report 2016, which provides, for the first time, reliable figures on the topic based on health insurance data. "Chronic pain is a distinct illness that requires highly specific treatment. Given the millions affected, combating chronic pain must become a national health objective," demanded Dr. Christoph Straub, CEO of BARMER GEK, at the presentation of the study today in Berlin. He emphasized the need for a seamless care pathway to prevent the chronicity of pain as often as possible through interdisciplinary collaboration. The general practitioner should play a key role in guiding patients through this process.

Chronic pain is most common in Brandenburg

The report shows that chronic pain is documented very differently across Germany. The highest rate, at 5.79 percent, is in the state of Brandenburg. The lowest rate, at 2.94 percent, was documented in Bremen. The national average diagnosis rate for chronic pain is 4.02 percent. For their analysis, the report authors from the AQUA Institute in Göttingen considered diagnoses used to document chronic pain without a direct link to a specific organ. The data shows that chronic pain was diagnosed more frequently over the ten years from 2005 to 2014. In 2005, only 1.59 percent of the population was affected. Chronic pain is documented significantly more often in women across all age groups, with the number of affected individuals increasing with age. In 2014, approximately 13.2 percent of those over 80 were affected, comprising 143,000 men and 444,000 women. This corresponded to diagnosis rates of 9.3 percent for men and 15.2 percent for women. Among those over 90 years of age, approximately ten percent of men and almost 16 percent of women are affected, roughly 15,000 men and almost 83,000 women.

Multimodal pain therapy is only used in one out of five patients

According to Straub, much has changed in the care of chronic pain patients in recent years, but the picture in pain medicine is complex. The number of patients treated with multimodal pain therapy in hospitals more than doubled between 2006 and 2014. This means that around 61,000 patients received multimodal therapy for chronic pain in 2014. However, this represents only one-fifth of all patients who would potentially be suitable for such therapy. Straub pointed out that the provision of multimodal pain therapy is not adequately ensured, particularly from a quality perspective. "We therefore strongly support the efforts of professional societies to develop binding quality criteria for multimodal pain therapy in hospitals."

Number of outpatient treatments at a new record high

The physician report analyzes current trends in outpatient medical care based on data from the 2014 outpatient treatment of 8.6 million BARMER GEK policyholders. Prof. Dr. Joachim Szecsenyi, Managing Director of the AQUA Institute for Applied Quality Improvement and Research in Healthcare, Göttingen, pointed out that in 2014, every resident of Germany visited an average of approximately two doctors per quarter. With 8.5 treatment cases per capita, the number of cases in 2014 reached a new high since 2005.

In 2014, health insurance funds paid an average of €522.96 for outpatient medical care for their insured members. This represents an increase of 3.5 percent compared to 2013, when €505.24 was spent per insured member. As in previous years, in 2014, expenditures for men (€450) were significantly lower than for women (€593). "Regional differences are again evident. In Berlin and Hamburg, insured-related outpatient treatment costs in 2014 were more than ten percent above the national average," said Szecsenyi.

Data from the BARMER GEK Physician Report 2016

  • In outpatient medical care for chronic pain patients, the number of affected patients increased steadily between 2008 and 2014, from 0.59 percent to 0.81 percent. Accordingly, around 655,000 people in Germany received outpatient treatment for chronic pain in 2014.
  • The 1,142 physicians involved in the care of chronic pain patients are distributed differently across the region. In Lower Saxony, there were 0.54 physicians per 100,000 inhabitants, while in Bremen the figure was around 2.6 (see page 218 onwards).