Prevalence and characteristics of chronic Pain in the Chinese community-dwelling elderly: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Chronic pain adversely affects health and daily life in the elderly. Gaining insight into chronic pain that affects the community-dwelling elderly is crucial for pain management in China, which possesses the largest elderly population in the world. Methods This is a cross-sectional design study that followed the STROBE Guideline. A randomized cluster sampling method was used to recruit participants in the Sichuan Province from Dec 2018 to May 2019. In addition, face-to-face interviews were conducted to collect socio-demographic data, characteristics and health-seeking behaviors of chronic pain through a self-designed questionnaire. Results A total of 1381 older adults participated in this study. Among these participants, 791 (57.3%) had chronic pain. Here, prevalence and pain intensity were both found to increase from the 60–69 group to the 70–79 group, which then decreased in the ≥80 group with no significant differences in sex (p > 0.05). The most common pain locations were observed in the legs/feet (53.5%), head (23.6) and abdomen/pelvis (21.1%). Among the elderly suffering from chronic pain, 29.4% sought medical help, 59.2% received medication and 59.7% adopted non-drug therapy. Conclusion Chronic pain is a common health concern in the Chinese community-dwelling elderly, which possesses different characteristics than other countries’ populations. Therefore, easier access to medication assistance and provision of scientific guidance for non-drug therapy may serve as satisfactory approaches in improving pain management.

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“…The prevalence of chronic pain in our study (66.2%) was significantly higher than that reported in previous studies 7 , 23 . The reason for the higher prevalence in our study may be due to the fact that it was performed in a tertiary referral hospital.…”

Are Mind-Body Exercise Beneficial for Treating Pain, Function, and Quality of Life in Middle-Aged and Old People With Chronic Pain? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Aging is a significant factor in the development of chronic pain (Tsang et al, 2008 ). With the gradually increasing trend of global aging, the prevalence of chronic pain is increasing in middle-aged and old people and has a connection with extensive disability and greater health care costs (Cho et al, 2015 ; Reid et al, 2015 ; Corsi et al, 2018 ; Sun et al, 2019 ; Li et al, 2021 ). One survey based on Chinese people revealed the prevalence of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) increased with age, surging after 55 years old (Chen et al, 2021 ).…”

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“…The management of chronic pain in China is still in its infancy [2,5]. Indeed, although distressful and significantly affects the quality of life, chronic pain does not threaten the life of the patients, and healthcare priority is directed towards dangerous conditions.…”

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