Chronic pain in elderly caregivers at different levels of frailty

• Published in: Revista gaúcha de enfermagem Vol. 37; no. 4; p. e60700
• Main Authors: Morais, Daiene de, Terassi, Mariélli, Inouye, Keika, Luchesi, Bruna Moretti, Pavarini, Sofia Cristina Iost
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Portuguese
• Published: Brazil 09-02-2017
• Subjects: Aged; Caregivers; Chronic Pain - epidemiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Frail Elderly; Humans; Male; Pain Measurement
• ISSN: 0102-6933
• DOI: 10.1590/1983-1447.2016.04.60700

To determine whether there are differences in the intensity of chronic pain of elderly caregivers who are frail, pre-frail and non-frail.
Quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study. The subjects were 187 elderly caregivers evaluated with a Multidimensional Pain Assessment Scale and the Fried Frailty Phenotype Assessment Components. Descriptive and comparative analyzes, Pearson's chi-square test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used.
24.1% of the caregivers were frail, 55.1% pre-frail and 20.9% non-frail. The only socio-demographic variable that differed between the three groups was age (p=0.03). Mean pain intensity values were as follows: frail elderly (6.98), pre-frail (6.38) and non-frail (5.85). However, these differences were not significant (p=0.150).
The present study did not find a significant difference in the intensity of chronic pain in elderly. Nevertheless, it is essential that health professionals and health care public policies give special attention to older caregivers.