Chronic pain
patients are less responsive to multiple pharmacologic agents, suggesting the
need to develop therapies for pain management in hospitalized older adults.
According to a recent research published by University of California, About 20% of hospitalized older people expressed moderate to severe pain. Sometimes, it’s become difficult to manage pain among older patients due to unable to identify pain intensity. Therefore, Lisa X. Deng and colleagues designed a medical record aggregate review to determine pain-associated characteristics; prevalence and management among hospitalized older patients of a tertiary care hospital.
The older people of age 65 or older (Numeric Pain Rating Scale≥4) who admitted to hospital from 20 November 2014 to 20 May 2015 were selected for the study. The patients assessed for pain and demographic characteristics, comorbidity burden and painkillers during the index hospitalization.
Only 248 patients
out of 1,267 exhibited moderate to severe pain on hospital admission. Most of
the patients obtained acetaminophen and opioids. Whereas, fewer patients
obtained NSAIDs. The patients with
chronic pain exhibited less recovery from pain (p = 0.002) and received more
adjuvant analgesics, analgesics and opioids (p<. 05) as compared to those
who were without chronic pain history. As per results, one in five older adults
suffered from moderate to severe pain. Further research for finding an optimal
pain management approach is required for older patients, especially who are
with chronic pain.
J Am Geriatr Soc
Prevalence and Characteristics of Moderate to Severe Pain among Hospitalized Older Adults
Lisa X. Deng et al.
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