Evaluation of the Relationship Between Geographic Proximity and Treatment for People Referred to a Metropolitan Multidisciplinary Pain Clinic.

Objective: This study examined which patient characteristics are associated with traveling further to attend a metropolitan, publicly funded pain management service, and whether travel distance was associated with differences in treatment profile, duration, and percentage of appointments attended.

Design: Cross-sectional observational cohort study.

Method: Patients ≤70 years of age with a single referral between January 2014 and June 2018 who had not died within 12 months of their first appointment and who had a usual place of residence were included (N = 1,684; mean age = 47.