The November 25th edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association has reported on a study of the effects of multiple pain areas in older people. It transpires that having multiple areas of chronic pain increases the risk, or is associated with an increased risk, of falling.
Falls are a significant issue in society and in healthcare establishments, leading to fractures, operations, reduced function, high costs and in some cases death.
Much scientific work is being done on the links between many factors and the risk of falling, in the hope of instigating preventative strategies, but overall there has been little progress in reducing falls and the attendant problems.
A population of people over 70 were asked to record the falls they had and were interviewed for their pain problems. If they had two or more areas of chronic pain this significantly raised their risk of future falls, as did severe levels of reported pain and higher levels of functional interference from pain.
Chronic pain in older people, an issue perhaps generally overlooked, may have more severe potential consequences than realised as it contributes towards the large and increasing problem of falls.
Journal of the American Medical Association 2009;302:2214-2221. |
