Chronic pain: prevalent and independently associated with frailty and female gender in geriatric outpatients

To determine the prevalence and factors independently associated with chronic pain. More than half of geriatric outpatients reported chronic pain. Female gender and frailty were independently associated with chronic pain. Chronic pain is common and independently associated with frailty. This study aims to determine the prevalence and factors independently associated with chronic pain. Participants  ≥ 65 years of age admitted to a geriatric outpatient-clinic were recruited between November 2012 and May 2018. Chronic pain is defined as presence of musculoskeletal system-based pain ongoing more than 3 months. Numeric rating scale (NRS) was applied to assess pain severity. Physical activity status was recorded as never or 1–2 times per week or everyday as appropriate. Following geriatric syndromes were assessed: sleep problem, fall within past year, depression by Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form (GDS-SF), frailty by FRAIL scale, functionality by modified Katz activities of daily living (ADL) and Lawton instrumental ADL scales, and quality of life by Euro-Quality of Life-5D (EQ-5D) and EQ Visual Analog Scale. The study population consisted of 1441 patients. Of those, 969 were female and 472 were male. Mean age was 75.5 ± 6.6 years. The prevalence of chronic pain was 54.2% (n = 781). The median NRS score was 5 (1–10). Female gender, sleep problem, decreased functionality, and lower quality of life were independently associated with chronic pain after adjustment for educational status, presence of physical activity, fall within the past year, depression, and frailty. When the second analysis performed after the data with larger amount of missing value is removed, female gender and frailty remained independently associated with chronic pain. Chronic pain is common and independently associated with female gender and frailty in geriatric outpatients. Factors those are associated with chronic pain, as documented in this study, may induce further longitudinal studies.