Multidimensional Frailty and Pain in Community Dwelling Elderly

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2017

Authors

Coelho, T (Author) Other; Constança Paúl (Author) ICBAS; Gobbens, RJJ (Author) Other; Lia Fernandes (Author) FMUP

Journal

Title: Pain Medicine

Vol. 18

Pages: 693-701

ISSN: 1526-2375

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 33 Citations

Scopus - 38 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00G-N7G

DOI: 10.1111/pme.12746

Abstract (EN): Objective. To examine the relationship between frailty and pain, particularly to analyze whether pain predicts physical, psychological and social frailty, after controlling for the effects of life-course determinants and comorbidity. Design. Cross-sectional. Methods. A nonprobabilistic sample of 252 community dwelling elderly was recruited. Frailty and determinants of frailty were assessed with the Tilburg Frailty Indicator and pain was measured with the Pain Impact Questionnaire. Hierarchical and logistic regression analyses were conducted. Results. In this study, 52.4% of the participants were aged 80 years and over, and 75.8% were women. Pain and frailty were higher in women, and physical frailty was higher in those aged similar to 80 years. After controlling for the effects of the determinants and comorbidity, pain predicted 5.8% of the variance of frailty, 5.9% of the variance of physical frailty, and 4.0% of the variance of psychological frailty, while the prediction of social frailty was nonsignificant. Overall, a greater pain impact score was associated with the presence of frailty (odds ratio 1.06; 95% CI 1.03-1.10; P< 0.001). Conclusion. Frailty was independently predicted by pain, emphasizing the importance of its treatment, potentially contributing to the prevention of vulnerability, dependency, and mortality. Nonetheless, longitudinal studies are required to better understand the possible association between pain and frailty.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 9