Virginia Commonwealth University researchers gave diaries to 232 sickle cell disease patients to record daily pain and indicate whether they used hospital emergency or unscheduled ambulatory care for their pain.

"The major finding of our study," said Dr. Wally Smith, a VCU professor who directed the research, "was that pain in sickle cell disease is a daily phenomenon and that patients are at home mostly struggling with their pain, rather than coming into the hospital or emergency department."

The researchers found more than half of the patients reported having pain on a majority of days. Nearly one-third suffered daily pain.

"I believe that this study could change the way people view the pain of the disease," said Smith. "And the study results have implications for medical care, and research. We need more drugs to prevent the underlying processes that cause pain in this disease.

And we need better treatments to reduce the chronic pain and suffering that these patients go through."

The findings are detailed in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

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