Chronic Pain in Older Adults: A Quality of Life Issue

Abstract Background Exercise have shown being effective for managing chronic pain and preventing frailty status in older adults but the effect of an exercise program in the quality of life of pre-frail older adults with chronic pain remains unclear. Our objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of multicomponent structured physical exercise program for pre-frail adults aged 65 years or more with chronic pain to improve their perceived health related quality of life, compared with usual care. Methods Open label randomized controlled trial. Participants were community-dwelling pre-frail older adults aged 65 years or older with chronic pain and non-dependent for basic activities of daily living attending a Primary Healthcare Centre. Forty-four participants were randomly allocated to a control group (n = 20) that received usual care or an intervention group (n = 24) that received an 8-week physical activity and education program. Frailty status (SHARE Frailty Index), quality of life (EuroQol-5D-5L), pain intensity (Visual Analogue Scale), physical performance (Short Physical Performance Battery) and depression (Yessavage) were assessed at baseline, after the intervention and after 3 months follow-up. The effect of the intervention was analysed by mean differences between the intervention and control groups. Results The follow-up period (3 months) was completed by 32 patients (73%), 17 in the control group and 15 in the intervention group. Most participants were women (78.1%) with a mean age (standard deviation) of 77.2 (5.9) years and a mean pain intensity of 48.1 (24.4) mm. No relevant differences were found between groups at baseline. After the intervention, mean differences in the EuroQol Index Value between control and intervention groups were significant (-0.19 95%CI(-0.33- -0.04)) and remained after three months follow-up (-0.21 95%CI(-0.37- -0.05)). Participants in the exercise group showed better results in pain intensity and frailty after the intervention, and an improvement in physical performance after the intervention and after three months. Conclusions An eight-week physical activity and education program for pre-frail older adults with chronic pain, compared with usual care, could be effective to improve quality of life after the intervention and after three-months follow-up. Study registration details: This study was retrospectively registered in ClinicalTrials.gov with the identifier NCT04045535.

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Factors associated with quality of life of older adults with chronic pain

Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem ◽

10.1590/0034-7167-2020-0554 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 74 (suppl 2) ◽

Author(s):

Maressa Gonçalves da Paz ◽

Layz Alves Ferreira de Souza ◽

Bruna da Silva Ferreira Tatagiba ◽

Joyce Rutyelle da Serra ◽

Louise Amália de Moura ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Older Adults ◽

Chronic Pain ◽

Pain Intensity ◽

Death And Dying ◽

World Health ◽

World Health Organization Quality ◽

Factors Associated ◽

Lower Limb Pain

ABSTRACT Objective: To analyze the factors associated with quality of life of the older adults with chronic pain. Method: Cross-sectional study conducted with 239 older adults in outpatient care in the state of Goiás, Brazil. The World Health Organization Quality of Life–Old (WHOQOL-OLD) instrument contains six domains and was applied to assess quality of life. Simple and multiple linear regressions were used in the statistical analysis. Results: The factors associated with Sensory Abilities were age (β = - 0.52), time spent together (β = - 14.35; - 17.86; - 15.57), and pain intensity (β = - 1, 70). Autonomy was associated with depression (β = - 5.99) and chest pain (β = - 6.17). Social participation related to schooling (β = - 0.64), diabetes mellitus (β = - 8.15), depression (β = - 14.53), pain intensity (β = - 1.43), and lower limb pain (β = - 5.94). Past, present and future activities related to depression (β = - 6.94). Death and dying related to hypertension (β = - 8.40), while Intimacy to depression (β = - 5.99) and headache/face pain (β = - 3.19). Conclusion: The time experiencing chronic pain and the location of this experience, as well as depression, diabetes and systemic arterial hypertension were factors that had greater influence on the older adult’s Quality of Life domains.

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A physical activity program versus usual care in the management of quality of life for pre-frail older adults with chronic pain: randomized controlled trial

BMC Geriatrics ◽

10.1186/s12877-020-01805-3 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Pedro Otones ◽

Eva García ◽

Teresa Sanz ◽

Azucena Pedraz

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Physical Activity ◽

Older Adults ◽

Chronic Pain ◽

Usual Care ◽

Pain Intensity ◽

Physical Performance ◽

Frail Older Adults

Abstract Background Exercise has shown being effective for managing chronic pain and preventing frailty status in older adults but the effect of an exercise program in the quality of life of pre-frail older adults with chronic pain remains unclear. Our objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of multicomponent structured physical exercise program for pre-frail adults aged 65 years or more with chronic pain to improve their perceived health related quality of life, compared with usual care. Methods Open label randomized controlled trial. Participants were community-dwelling pre-frail older adults aged 65 years or older with chronic pain and non-dependent for basic activities of daily living attending a Primary Healthcare Centre. Forty-four participants were randomly allocated to a control group (n = 20) that received usual care or an intervention group (n = 24) that received an 8-week physical activity and education program. Frailty status (SHARE Frailty Index), quality of life (EuroQol-5D-5L), pain intensity (Visual Analogue Scale), physical performance (Short Physical Performance Battery) and depression (Yessavage) were assessed at baseline, after the intervention and after 3 months follow-up. The effect of the intervention was analysed by mean differences between the intervention and control groups. Results The follow-up period (3 months) was completed by 32 patients (73%), 17 in the control group and 15 in the intervention group. Most participants were women (78.1%) with a mean age (standard deviation) of 77.2 (5.9) years and a mean pain intensity of 48.1 (24.4) mm. No relevant differences were found between groups at baseline. After the intervention, mean differences in the EuroQol Index Value between control and intervention groups were significant (− 0.19 95% CI(− 0.33- -0.04)) and remained after 3 months follow-up (− 0.21 95% CI(− 0.37- -0.05)). Participants in the exercise group showed better results in pain intensity and frailty after the intervention, and an improvement in physical performance after the intervention and after 3 months. Conclusions An eight-week physical activity and education program for pre-frail older adults with chronic pain, compared with usual care, could be effective to improve quality of life after the intervention and after three-months follow-up. Study registration details This study was retrospectively registered in ClinicalTrials.gov with the identifier NCT04045535.

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Low health related quality of life (QoL) in older adults is associated with chronic pain in women and with disturbed sleep in men

Scandinavian Journal of Pain ◽

10.1016/j.sjpain.2014.08.006 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 268-269 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Harald Breivik

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Older Adults ◽

Chronic Pain ◽

Health Related Quality ◽

Disturbed Sleep ◽

Related Quality ◽

Health Related

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Chronic Pain Management Among Older Adults: A Scoping Review

SAGE Open Nursing ◽

10.1177/2377960819874259 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. 237796081987425

Author(s):

Ampicha Nawai

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Older Adults ◽

Chronic Pain ◽

Pain Management ◽

Outcome Measures ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Roy Adaptation Model ◽

Chronic Pain Management ◽

Adaptation Model

Chronic pain is a significant problem for older adults. The effect of chronic pain on older people’s quality of life needs to be described and identified. For a decade, the Roy Adaptation Model has been used extensively to explain nursing phenomena and guide nursing research in several settings with several populations. The objective of this study was to use the Roy Adaptation Model to describe chronic pain and present a systematic scoping review of the literature about the middle-range theory of chronic pain among older adults. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses model guided a scoping review search method. A literature search was undertaken using MEDLINE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Ovid, and ProQuest. The search terms were “chronic pain,” “pain management,” “older adult,” “Roy Adaptation Model,” and “a scope review.” The search included articles written in English published for the period of 2004–2017. All articles were synthesized using concepts of Roy’s Adaptation Model. Twenty-two studies were considered for the present review. Twenty-one articles were reports of quantitative studies, and one was a report of a qualitative study. Two outcome measures were found in this systematic scoping review. The primary outcomes reported in all articles were the reduction of pain due to interventions and an increase in coping with chronic pain. The secondary outcome measures reported in all studies were the improvement of physical function, quality of life, sleep disturbance, spiritual well-being, and psychological health related to pain management interventions among older adults. Many interventions of all studies reported improvement in chronic pain management among older adults. However, to improve chronic pain management, nurses need to understand about nursing theories, the context which instruments work, and develop empirical instruments based on the conceptual model.

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A comparison of the influencing factors of chronic pain and quality of life between older Koreans and Korean–Americans with chronic pain: a correlational study

Quality of Life Research ◽

10.1007/s11136-021-02983-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sun Ju Chang ◽

Hee Jun Kim ◽

Hee-Soon Juon ◽

Hyunjeong Park ◽

Seung Woo Choi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Older Adults ◽

Chronic Pain ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Intervention Program ◽

Structural Equation Models ◽

Secondary Data ◽

Korean Americans

Abstract Background Chronic pain is one of the most common health problems for older adults worldwide and is likely to result in lower quality of life. Living in a different culture may also influence chronic pain and quality of life in older adults. The purpose of this study was to explore how multifaceted elements affect chronic pain and quality of life in older Koreans living in Korea and in older Korean–Americans (KAs) living in the USA. Methods We conducted a secondary data analysis of data from 270 adults aged 65 years or over (138 Koreans and 132 KAs). We compared the effects of multifaceted elements on pain and quality of life by testing structural equation models (SEMs) for each group, using a maximum likelihood estimation and bootstrapping. Results SEMs for both Korean and KAs showed that age and depressive symptoms directly affected quality of life. The number of comorbidities and depressive symptoms had mediating effects on quality of life through chronic pain in both groups. In older Koreans only, perceived financial status directly affected quality of life. In older KAs only, sleep quality indirectly affected quality of life through chronic pain. Conclusion The data showed that multimorbidity and depressive symptoms play critical roles for explaining chronic pain in older Koreans and KAs and ultimately negatively influence quality of life. Future intervention program to improve quality of life in older adults with chronic pain should consider the different cultural aspects affecting quality of life for Koreans and KAs.

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