title: Chronic pain in older adults: prevalence, incidence, and risk factors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Chronic pain is common in older adults, yet little is known of its development and the factors that predict its persistence and onset at old age. The aims of this longitudinal cohort study were to examine the prevalence and incidence of chronic pain and to explore possible risk factors for its persistence and onset in a representative sample of older Swedish adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected through questionnaires and followed up after 12 and 24 months. Chronic pain was defined as pain symptoms that lasted more than 3 months, regardless of the specific cause or site. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for potential predictors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 2000 older adults approached (aged 65-103 years), 1141 were included in the study. Chronic pain was reported among 38.5% of the participants, and was more common among females and among adults over 85 years of age. The incidence was estimated to be 5.4% annually. Being female (OR 3.19, 95% CI 1.04-9.59), having a lower body mass index (BMI; OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.79-0.99), more than one pain location (OR 4.02, 95% CI 1.56-10.35), higher severity (OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.13-2.83), and longer duration (OR 1.08, 95% CI 1.01-1.15) were associated with the persistence of chronic pain, but this association did not remain significant for men when divided by gender. Younger age (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.89-0.99) was associated with new onset of chronic pain.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Even though pain was often highly prevalent and persistent, our results show that both recovery and onset of pain occurred. Pain characteristics, rather than age-related symptoms and psychosocial variables, predicted pain persistence among older women but not among older men. These findings highlight the importance of early pain management in the prevention of future pain.
authors.affiliation: a Centre for Primary Health Care Research , Lund University/Region Skåne , Malmö , Sweden.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.affiliation: b Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö/Family Medicine , Lund University , Malmö , Sweden.
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Hansson
authors.affiliation: a Centre for Primary Health Care Research , Lund University/Region Skåne , Malmö , Sweden.|c Stanford Prevention Research Center , Stanford University School of Medicine , Stanford , CA , USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sundquist
authors.affiliation: a Centre for Primary Health Care Research , Lund University/Region Skåne , Malmö , Sweden.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Jakobsson
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010147:Pain Measurement; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors