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Older adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain are at increased risk of recurrent falls and the brief pain inventory could help identify those most at risk

Older adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain are at increased risk of recurrent falls and the brief pain inventory could help identify those most at risk

Stubbs, Brendon, Eggermont, Laura, Patchay, Sandhi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7013-8940 and Schofield, Pat (2015) Older adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain are at increased risk of recurrent falls and the brief pain inventory could help identify those most at risk. Geriatrics & Gerontology International, 15 (7). pp. 881-888. ISSN 1444-1586 (Print), 1447-0594 (Online) (doi:10.1111/ggi.12357)

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Abstract

Aim:
Chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) and falls are common among community-dwelling older adults. The study aims were: (i) to investigate the relationship between CMP and any falls (≥1), single falls and recurrent falls (≥2) in community-dwelling older adults; and (ii) to determine the discriminative validity of the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) to differentiate between non-fallers and (a) any and (b) recurrent fallers.

Methods:
A cross-sectional study involving 295 community-dwelling participants (mean age 77.5 ± 8.1 years, 66.4% female) was carried out. CMP was assessed and classified as none (comparison group), single and multisite (≥2). The BPI severity and interference subscales were used, and falls were recorded over 12 months. Data were analyzed with logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC).

Results:
Over half of the participants (154/295, 52.2%) had CMP (41.6% single and 58.4% multisite pain). Participants with CMP were at increased risk of recurrent falls (OR 2.25, 95% CI 1.03–4.88), and this risk was highest in those with multisite CMP (OR 3.43, CI 1.34–8.65). The BPI severity subscale showed good discriminative ability to differentiate between recurrent and non-fallers with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.731 (95% CI 0.635–0.826); a mean score of 5.1 had a sensitivity of 93.3% and specificity of 56.7%. The AUC for the BPI interference subscale was 0.724 (95% CI 0.630–0.818), and a cut-off score of 4.6 had a sensitivity of 84.4% and specificity of 57.8%

Conclusion:
Older adults with multisite CMP are at greatest risk of recurrent falls. In clinical settings, the BPI could prove useful to discriminate between recurrent and non-fallers.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the above cited article which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ggi.12357. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving. Geriatrics and Gerontology International is the official Journal of the Japan Geriatrics Society. FIRST published: 28 August 2014
Uncontrolled Keywords: community-dwelling older adults, falls, falls screening tool, musculoskeletal pain, recurrent falls
Subjects: Q Science > QP Physiology
R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences
Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > School of Human Sciences (HUM)
Last Modified: 20 Apr 2017 15:10
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/12083

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