Co-occurrence of chronic physical pain and psychiatric morbidity in a community sample of older people.
BACKGROUND
Knowledge about co-occurrence of the most frequent chronic pain symptoms with psychiatric morbidity in older people is very limited.


OBJECTIVE
To study the association of psychiatric morbidity and painful physical conditions in people aged 60 years and over.


METHODS
Population-based random sample of 7,040 household residents, aged 60 years and over, in Brazil.


RESULTS
The overall prevalence of pain conditions is 76%. Age-sex specific prevalence of chronic pain conditions such as back pain, joint, abdominal, chest, headaches, reported by respondents ranged from 11.6% up to 51.1%. In logistic regression models, chest pain, head pain, back pain, joint pain and abdominal pain emerged as predictors of psychiatric morbidity. The odds of psychiatric morbidity are also affected by income, ethnicity, origin (urban/rural), and marital status.


CONCLUSIONS
The association of chronic painful conditions and psychiatric morbidity in late life is statistically strong in this surveyed population.
Blay
Sergio Luís
SL
Escola Paulista de Medicina -- UNIFESP, Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil. blay@uol.com.br
Andreoli
Sergio Baxter
SB
Dewey
Michael E
ME
Gastal
Fábio Leite
FL
D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D010146:Pain / Q000150:complications*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D015995:Prevalence; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D017678:Sex Distribution; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile