In nursing home residents, persistent pain is highly prevalent, there is suboptimal compliance with geriatric prescribing recommendations, and acute pain may be an important contributing source of persistent pain. More effective provider education and research is needed to determine whether treatment of acute pain could prevent persistent pain.

Widespread musculoskeletal pain is frequent among community-dwelling older women with disability and appears to predict the progression of disability. Efforts to better understand the cause of this pain and its treatment might reduce the overall burden of disability.