title: Tailoring chronic pain treatments for the elderly: are we prepared for the challenge?
abstract: Chronic pain is increasingly recognized as a disease and accounts for substantial suffering and disability worldwide. The aging 'baby-boomer' generation is creating a tsunami of elderly patients (>65 years old) for global healthcare systems (between 2010 and 2030). The phenotypic expression of chronic pain in the elderly can be influenced by co-morbid diseases (e.g. diabetes, cancer, depression, Alzheimer's disease, etc.), changes in physiological competency (e.g. drug metabolism/elimination) or cognitive reserve. Will a shift in the drug discovery paradigm be required to improve efficacy, side-effects or positively impact quality of life (QoL) in the elderly with chronic pain? This review highlights a number of potential pitfalls that should be considered when delivering valued pain relief medicines tailored for the elderly.
authors.affiliation: Eli Lilly & Company, Neuroscience, Indianapolis, IN 46285, USA. Electronic address: Arneric_Stephen@Lilly.com.
authors.forename: Stephen P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Arneric
authors.affiliation: Eli Lilly & Company, Neuroscience, Indianapolis, IN 46285, USA; Dept of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics and Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1Y6, Canada.
authors.forename: Jennifer M A
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Laird
authors.affiliation: Eli Lilly & Company, Neuroscience, Indianapolis, IN 46285, USA.
authors.forename: Amy S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Chappell
authors.affiliation: Eli Lilly & Company, Neuroscience, Indianapolis, IN 46285, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Kennedy
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000700:Analgesics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy / Q000639:trends*; D059408:Pain Management / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000700:Analgesics