title: Pain among older adults from a gender perspective: findings from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care (SNAC-Blekinge).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pain is common in the elderly population and its prevalence varies according to the studied disease, clinical setting, sex and age. This study examines pain in an aging population from a gender perspective.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Swedish National study on Aging and Care (SNAC) is conducted at four research centres. Participants were recruited from the baseline sample (n=1402) at one of the research centres, SNAC-Blekinge. Individuals aged 60 years and older were included and non-participation was documented. Research personnel conducted the medical examination on two occasions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of pain was 769/1402 (54.8%), distributed as 496/817 (64.5%) women and 273/585 (35.5%) men,p<0.01. Women reported more pain located in the vertebral column,p<0.01. The most common pain location was the legs and feet. About 84% reported pain intensity as 4 or higher on the visual analogue scale (VAS). Pain intensity declines with age among men,p<0.01. The most frequent treatment was painkillers. A total of 128/263 (48.7%) of the men received no pain treatment compared with 177/478 (37.0%) of the women,p<0.01. In a multivariate logistic regression model, women yielded the highest OR [OR 1.94 (C.I. 1.51-2.49)] for pain.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pain is common among older adults and there are significant differences between the sexes. Almost 55% of participants reported pain, predominantly women. In the majority of cases the intensity was rated as moderate or severe (VAS >4) and women rated higher than men p<002. Almost half of the men (48.7%) did not receive any treatment compared to 37% of the women, p<001.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden Department of Health Sciences, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Lund University, Sweden lena.sandin-wranker@spray.se.
authors.forename: Lena Sandin
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Wranker
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden.
authors.forename: Mikael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rennemark
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden.
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Berglund
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000453:epidemiology*; D059408:Pain Management / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013131:Spine; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Pain; older adults; prevalence; treatment