Research on the association between chronic pain and multidimensional frailty in the elderly inpatients
Objective This study aims to investigate the prevalence of chronic pain among elderly inpatients and its association with physical and cognitive frailty.Methods A total of 540 elderly patients from the Department of Geriatric Medicine at Beijing Friendship Hospital were included in the study between January 2019 and December 2023.Based on the Numerical Rating Scale(NRS)scores,patients were categorized into two groups:those experiencing pain and those without pain.Univariate analysis was conducted to compare general information,physical frailty,and cognitive frailty between the two groups;however,no significant relationship was identified between cognitive decline and chronic pain.Additionally,Binary Logistic regression was employed to identify the independent factors influencing chronic pain.Results The prevalence of chronic pain among elderly hospitalized patients was found to be 19.4%.Univariate analysis indicated that factors such as educational background,anxiety and depression,activities of daily living(ADL),polypharmacy,and physical frailty were associated with chronic pain.Furthermore,binary logistic regression identified educational background,polypharmacy,and physical frailty as independent influencing factors of chronic pain.Conclusions The prevalence of chronic pain in elderly hospitalized patients is notably high,highlighting the need for more prospective studies to explore the relationship between chronic pain and multi-dimensional frailty,including social frailty.Addressing chronic pain in the elderly necessitates multidisciplinary interventions that consider the potential impact of frailty on pain.