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Pain in older people with frailty

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2015

Lesley Brown ,
John Young ,
Andrew Clegg  and
Anne Heaven
Lesley Brown*
Affiliation:
Academic Unit of Elderly Care and Rehabilitation, University of Leeds and Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford, UK
John Young
Affiliation:
Academic Unit of Elderly Care and Rehabilitation, University of Leeds and Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford, UK
Andrew Clegg
Affiliation:
Academic Unit of Elderly Care and Rehabilitation, University of Leeds and Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford, UK
Anne Heaven
Affiliation:
Academic Unit of Elderly Care and Rehabilitation, University of Leeds and Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford, UK
*
Address for correspondence: Dr Lesley Brown, Academic Unit of Elderly Care and Rehabilitation, Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Duckworth Lane, Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK. Email: [email protected]
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Summary

In this review we identified cohort and cross-sectional studies that assessed pain in community-dwelling older people (>65 years) reliably characterized as frail. Secondly, we considered biologically plausible mechanisms that may alter pain perception, or contribute to, or exacerbate pain in an older person with frailty. Thirdly, we considered specific implications of pain management for this group of people. From the limited data from the seven included studies, it would appear that the presence of pain is higher in older people with frailty compared with people characterized as pre-frail or not frail. Thus older people reporting pain are more likely to be frail. However, a lack of prospective data precludes inferences about the direction of the relationship: that is whether pain or frailty is the antecedent. Further research is needed to understand the direction of the relationship, and to identify appropriate pain management strategies for older people with frailty.

Keywords

older peoplefrailtypainanalgesia
Type
Review Article
Information
Reviews in Clinical Gerontology , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , August 2015 , pp. 159 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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