Department of Epidemiology and Health Reporting, Division of Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany.
Eur J Pain. 2012 Jul;16(6):934-43. doi: 10.1002/j.1532-2149.2011.00093.x. Epub 2011 Dec 23.
Previous studies suggest that pain management by analgesic medications may be low among children. This study aims to investigate analgesic use and its correlates among children in Germany.
Analgesic use during a 1-week period was investigated in a community sample of 14,836 children and adolescents aged between 3 and 17 years in Germany. SPSS complex sample method was used to estimate the prevalence and associated factors of analgesic use among the general child population and among those children with pain in the same child population.
The prevalence of analgesic use was 8.9% among the general child population and 17.5% among children with pain that occurred at least once a week. Paracetamol (acetaminophen), aspirin and ibuprofen were the most frequently used paediatric analgesics, accounting for two-thirds of all analgesics. The vast majority of painkillers were self-medicated (67%, bought over the counter or obtained from other sources), used for a short term within 1 week (92%) and taken for the treatment of pain (85%). Use of analgesics was closely associated with girls, older age groups, children with a poor overall health status and children with recurrent pain, irrespective of family immigrant background and socioeconomic status.
Analgesic use appears to be low among children in Germany, reflecting largely the fact that pain perceived among children under ambulant care may be mild to moderate and does not need analgesic medications. As the majority of paediatric analgesics were self-medicated, use of analgesics still should be closely monitored particularly among specific subpopulations such as adolescents to avoid potential abuse.
先前的研究表明，在儿童中，通过镇痛药物进行疼痛管理的情况可能较低。本研究旨在调查德国儿童的镇痛药物使用情况及其相关因素。
在德国，对年龄在 3 至 17 岁之间的 14836 名儿童和青少年进行了为期一周的社区样本调查，研究了他们使用镇痛药物的情况。使用 SPSS 复杂样本方法来估计普通儿童人群和同一儿童人群中存在疼痛的儿童人群中使用镇痛药物的流行率及其相关因素。
普通儿童人群中镇痛药物使用的流行率为 8.9%，每周至少发生一次疼痛的儿童中为 17.5%。扑热息痛（对乙酰氨基酚）、阿司匹林和布洛芬是最常使用的儿科镇痛药，占所有镇痛药的三分之二。绝大多数止痛药都是自我用药（67%，在柜台购买或从其他来源获得），在 1 周内短期使用（92%），用于治疗疼痛（85%）。镇痛药物的使用与女孩、年龄较大的群体、整体健康状况较差的儿童以及有反复发作疼痛的儿童密切相关，而与家庭移民背景和社会经济地位无关。
在德国，儿童使用镇痛药的情况似乎较低，这主要反映了在门诊护理下的儿童感知到的疼痛可能是轻度到中度的，不需要使用镇痛药物。由于大多数儿科镇痛药都是自我用药，因此仍应密切监测镇痛药的使用情况，尤其是在青少年等特定亚人群中，以避免潜在的滥用。
