AGS 2009 Guidelines for Pharmacological Management of Persistent Pain in Older Adults

Abstract

In 1998, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) published their first guideline on managing pain in older adults. Since then, two additional guidelines have been published to update clinicians on the management of persistent pain in older adults. The most recent of these was recently released in 2009, as Guidelines for Pharmacological Management of Persistent Pain in Older Adults [1,2]. The most recent guidelines used a system of evaluation, called the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE). This system evaluates evidence in the literature based on degrees of quality and strength. Recommendations were subsequently made in accordance with the risks or benefits of using a pharmacotherapy couched with the weight of evidence in one direction or the other. Hence, weak recommendations were given in unclear circumstances where the benefits were balanced by approximately equal risks or where data where inadequate to place sufficient confidence in a strong recommendation. The recommendations appear below.