Effect of chronic pain on the occurrence of falls in older adults with disabilities: a prospective cohort study

ABSTRACT

Background

The relationship between chronic pain and the occurrence of falls in healthy older adults has been clarified in previous studies, but its relationship in older adults with disabilities has not.

Objective

This study aimed to determine whether chronic pain is related to the occurrence of falls in older adults with disabilities.

Methods

The participants were 101 older adults above 65 years old who used long-term care insurance services in Japan. Of these, 30 were fallers and 71 were non-fallers. Chronic pain, defined as pain lasting more than three months, was assessed using questionnaires, and the falls’ occurrence was followed up for six months using a fall calendar. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the data, with falls as the dependent variable, chronic pain as the independent variable, and age, sex, body mass index, number of drugs, sleep disorders, and depression as covariates.

Results

After adjusting for covariates, chronic pain significantly influenced the occurrence of falls (odds ratio: 3.168, 95% confidence interval: 1.057–9.495, p = .04).

Conclusion

Chronic pain was related to the occurrence of falls in older adults with disabilities. There is a need to focus on chronic pain presence in falls’ prevention among older adults with disabilities.

KEYWORDS:

• Chronic pain
• fall
• older adults
• prospective studies

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the participants and members of the project who assisted with the data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.