Persistent pain is a risk factor for frailty: a systematic review and meta-analysis from prospective longitudinal studies. (21st July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Saraiva, Marcos Daniel; Suzuki, Gisele Sayuri; Lin, Sumika Mori; de Andrade, Daniel Ciampi; Jacob-Filho, Wilson; Suemoto, Claudia Kimie
• Is Part Of: Age and ageing. Volume 47:Number 6(2018)
• Page Start: 785
• Page End: 793
• Publication Date: 2018-07-21
• Subjects: frailty -- frail older people -- meta-analysis -- pain -- persistent pain -- systematic review; Aging -- Periodicals; Geriatrics -- Periodicals; 618.97
• DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afy104
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0002-0729

Abstract

Abstract: Background: pain is prevalent in frail older adults; however, the association of pain and frailty has not been evaluated yet by a systematic assessment of prospective longitudinal studies. Objective: we aimed to assess the association of persistent pain as a risk factor for frailty incidence, using data from longitudinal studies in a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: publications were identified using a systematic search on PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library and clinicaltrials.gov databases from inception to October 2017. Since heterogeneity across studies was high, we used random-effects meta-analysis to calculate the pooled relative risk for the association between persistent pain and the incidence of frailty. We investigated sources of heterogeneity among studies using meta-regression and stratified analyses. Results: we included five prospective longitudinal studies with 13, 120 participants (46% women, mean age from 59 to 85 years old). Participants with persistent pain at baseline had twice the risk of developing frailty during the follow-up (pooled RR = 2.22, 95% CI = 1.14–4.29). No variables were related to study heterogeneity in sensitivity analyses. Conclusion: persistent pain was a risk factor for the development of frailty in a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Better understanding of the association between pain and frailty with proper evaluation of potential confounders could allow the development of targeted interventions.