Centre for Policy on Ageing



Pain perceptions of the oldest old — a longitudinal study
Author(s)	Steven H Zarit, Patricia C Griffiths, Stig Berg
Journal title	The Gerontologist, vol 44, no 4, August 2004
Pages	pp 459-468
Source	http://www.geron.org
Keywords	Pain ; Octogenarians ; Nonagenarians ; Longitudinal surveys ; Sweden.
Annotation	A sample of 98 people aged 86-92 who were participants in the longitudinal OCTO study in Sweden were interviewed about their experiences of pain and other dimensions of health and functioning. Prevalence of pain at baseline was 34% and rose to 40% at follow-up 2 years later. Incidence of new pain cases during that period was 16%. Pain was significantly related to sleep difficulties, medication usage, global subjective health, depressive symptoms, and mobility, though the magnitude of the associations was relatively small. The results extend previous cross-sectional findings, by demonstrating there is both an increase in the proportion of people reporting pain over time at the age of 85 as well as the possibility of recovery. The modest strength of associations of pain with other areas of functioning suggests adaptation and selectivity among survivors in very late life. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-041130232 A
Classmark	CT7: BBM: BBR: 3J: 76P
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.