title: The impact of pain on physical and mental quality of life in adults 65 and older.
abstract: Pain is a frequent and debilitating problem among older adults, decreasing quality of life (QOL) both physically and mentally. The burden of arthritis, sciatica, and back pain on QOL was estimated using ordinary least squares regression techniques to estimate the impact of each of these types of pain on QOL, controlling for patient demographic, socioeconomic, and health status characteristics. For individuals with arthritis, sciatica, and back pain, the adjusted average physical component scores were 4.19, 1.39, and 6.75 points lower, respectively (all p < 0.0001), than those without pain. Adjusted average mental component scores were 1.33, 0.47, and 2.93 points lower (all p < 0.01) for individuals with arthritis, sciatica, and back pain, respectively. The impact of pain on QOL was greater than that for many other commonly treated medical conditions. Clinicians should discuss pain with their patients to maximize their QOL.
authors.affiliation: OptumInsight, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hawkins
authors.forename: Shirley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Musich
authors.forename: Frank G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Bottone
authors.forename: Ronald J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Ozminkowski
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rush
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carcione
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Migliori
authors.forename: Charlotte S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Yeh
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003072:Cognition Disorders; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life