title: Chronic pain in elderly caregivers at different levels of frailty.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether there are differences in the intensity of chronic pain of elderly caregivers who are frail, pre-frail and non-frail.
  
  
  METHODS
  Quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study. The subjects were 187 elderly caregivers evaluated with a Multidimensional Pain Assessment Scale and the Fried Frailty Phenotype Assessment Components. Descriptive and comparative analyzes, Pearson's chi-square test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  24.1% of the caregivers were frail, 55.1% pre-frail and 20.9% non-frail. The only socio-demographic variable that differed between the three groups was age (p=0.03). Mean pain intensity values were as follows: frail elderly (6.98), pre-frail (6.38) and non-frail (5.85). However, these differences were not significant (p=0.150).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study did not find a significant difference in the intensity of chronic pain in elderly. Nevertheless, it is essential that health professionals and health care public policies give special attention to older caregivers.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos, São Paulo, Brasil.
authors.forename: Daiene de
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Morais
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos, São Paulo, Brasil.
authors.forename: Mariélli
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Terassi
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos, São Paulo, Brasil.
authors.forename: Keika
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Inouye
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos, São Paulo, Brasil.
authors.forename: Bruna Moretti
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Luchesi
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos, São Paulo, Brasil.
authors.forename: Sofia Cristina Iost
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Pavarini
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement