Arthritis pain common in the last two years of life
In the first study to look at the prevalence of pain experienced among older people during the last two years of life, researchers at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center (SFVAMC) found that 46% of study participants suffered moderate to severe pain during their final four months of life.
Arthritis was the biggest single predictor of pain, outweighing all eventual causes of death, including cancer.
“The impact of arthritis on the experience of pain among older adults has not been recognized to the extent it should be,” says lead author, Dr Alexander Smith, a palliative medicine physician at SFVAMC.
The prevalence of pain in the last month of life was 60% among patients with arthritis and 26% among patients without arthritis.
“This research tells us that physicians should anticipate that pain will increase among their elderly and dying patients, assess their patients for pain frequently, and prescribe appropriate pain medications at appropriate levels,” says Dr Smith.
“As physicians, we need to recognize the high burden of pain among our older patients,” says Dr Smith.
He recommends that physicians regularly assess and treat pain in their older patients with chronic diseases who are not obviously nearing death.
“In other words,” he says, “pain management is not just for hospice patients”.
