A Qualitative Analysis of Osteoarthritis Pain

The authors of a recent study published in PLoS One evaluated patients' descriptions of their pain to identify and understand their perception of osteoarthritis (OA) pain and to categorize pain dimensions. The authors conducted "two focus groups with a sample of 14 participants with either recent or chronic OA at one or multiple sites." The focus groups "were semi-structured and used open-ended questions addressing personal experiences to explore the experiences of patients with OA pain and the meanings they attributed to these pains." The authors found seven dimensions of OA pain that emerged from the interviews: pain sensory description, OA-related symptoms, pain variability profile, pain-triggering factors, pain and physical activity, mood and image, and general physical symptoms.

Pain Prevalence among Older Adults in the United States

A recent study published in Pain "sought to determine the prevalence and impact of pain in a nationally representative sample of older adults in the United States." The authors analyzed data collected from the 2011 National Health and Aging Trends Study, in which 7601 in person interviews were conducted with older adults age 65 and older. The study results indicate that "pain did not vary across age groups, and this pattern remained unchanged when accounting for cognitive performance, dementia, proxy responses, and residential care living status." The authors conclude that "the majority of older adults with pain endorsed multiple sites of pain," and that, "bothersome pain in the last month was reported by half of the older adult population of the United States in 2011."

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Pain Assessment Checklist for Seniors

The authors of a recent study published in Clinical Journal of Pain attempted to "develop and validate the Pain Assessment Checklist for Seniors with Limited Ability to Communicate (PACSLAC-II) while addressing limitations of the original version." The authors revised the original PACSLAC based on relevant clinical and theoretical literature and reviewed data to assess their ability to use the checklist to discriminate pain from non-pain related states in comparison to other pre-existing pain assessment tools. The results "indicate that the empirical and theoretically-driven revisions to the PACSLAC led to improved ability to differentiate between pain and non-pain states."

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The Effects of Age and Race on Pain Sensitivity

A recent study published in the Journal of Pain "tested the effects of aging and race on responses to pain stimuli using a wide range of stimulus modalities." The study enrolled 53 non-Hispanic Blacks and 138 non-Hispanic White adults (ages 45 to 76) whose responses to thermal, mechanical, and cold stimuli were assessed during a single 3-hour sensory testing session." The results indicate that the older group was less sensitive to warm and painful heat stimuli to the knee than middle-aged participants, which supports the "hypothesis that the greatest decrease in pain sensitivity associated with aging occurs in the lower extremities." The authors conclude that "differences in pain sensitivity may increase with age in non-Hispanic Blacks for temporal summation and both heat and cold immersion tolerance."

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