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Comparative Study
. 2018 Mar 15;18(1):73.
doi: 10.1186/s12877-018-0762-y.

Frequent pain in older people with and without diabetes - Finnish community based study

M Karjalainen  1   2 , J Saltevo  3 , M Tiihonen  4 , M Haanpää  5   6 , H Kautiainen  7   8 , P Mäntyselkä  1   8
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Frequent pain in older people with and without diabetes - Finnish community based study

M Karjalainen et al. BMC Geriatr. .

Abstract

Background: The association between pain and diabetes in older people has been largely unexplored. The aim of this survey was to analyze the prevalence and characteristics of pain among Finnish men and women 65 or older with and without diabetes in primary care.

Methods: All home-dwelling persons 65 years or older with diabetes (N = 527) and age and gender matched controls (N = 890) were identified from electronic patient records. Frequent pain was regarded as any pain experienced more often than once a week, and it was divided into pain experienced several times a week but not daily and pain experienced daily or continuously. The Numeric Rating Scale (0-10) (NRS) was used to assess the intensity and interference of the pain.

Results: The number of subjects who returned the questionnaire was 1084 (76.5%). The prevalence of frequent pain in the preceding week was 50% among women without diabetes and 63% among women with diabetes (adjusted, p = 0.22). In men, the corresponding proportions were 42% without diabetes and 47% with diabetes (adjusted, p = 0.58). In both genders, depressive symptoms and the number of comorbidities were associated with pain experienced more often than once a week and with daily pain. Diabetes was not associated with pain intensity or pain interference in either women or men.

Conclusions: Pain in older adults is associated with depressive symptoms and the number of comorbidities more than with diabetes itself.

Keywords: Diabetes; Older people; Pain.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study protocol of the ISDM (Inner-Savo Diabetes Mellitus) study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Northern Savo Hospital District, Kuopio, Finland (256/2015). The study was approved by the Inner Savo Health Care Federation of Municipalities (61 A/2015). The questionnaire included information letter about the use of data and returning of questionnaire was voluntary. The autonomy of research subjects was respected and only anonymous data were analyzed. No harm was possible for the subjects and confidentiality of the subjects and research data were protected.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declares that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart of the study
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Prevalence of frequent pain among women and men with and without diabetes (p-values are crude, the corresponding p values adjusted for age, physical activity, depressive symptoms, alcohol use, smoking and number of comorbidities were p = 0.22 in women and p = 0.58 in men)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Proportions of subjects without frequent pain, with pain several times a week (STW), and with daily pain among women and men with and without diabetes
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Intensity and interference of pain experienced several times a week (STW) and pain experienced daily among women and men without and with diabetes
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Relationships between HbA1c and intensity and interference of pain among women and men with diabetes. The curves were derived from regression models including quadratic term of HbA1c. The curves were adjusted for age, physical activity, depressive symptoms, alcohol use, smoking and number of comorbidities. The grey area represents 95% confidence intervals. Dotted lines show means of subjects without diabetes. Adjusted curvilinear correlation was used. All curvilinear correlations were significant
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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