Pain and mortality among older adults in Korea.

Chiil Song,Wankyo Chung

doi:10.4178/epih.e2021058

Abstract

OBJECTIVESWith the increasing elderly population with chronic disease, understanding pain and designing appropriate policy interventions to it have become crucial. While pain is a noted mortality risk factor, limited studies exist due to the various causes of pain and the subjectivity of pain expression. This study aimed to examine the relationship between pain and mortality, controlling for other diseases and socio-cultural factors.METHODSWe analyzed 6,258 individuals aged 45 years or older, the population with the highest prevalence of pain, using the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (2006-2016) data and the Cox proportional-hazards model. Further subgroup analyses were conducted by sex and education level to examine differences in the relationship between pain and mortality.RESULTSThe adjusted hazard ratios of mortality were 1.16 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.00 to 1.34, model 1) and 1.12 (95% CI, 0.97 to 1.29, model 2) for the individuals in pain depending on the models used, where additional socio-cultural factors were accounted for in model 2. For individuals in severe pain, ratios were significantly higher with 1.23 (95% CI, 1.08 to 1.41, model 1) and 1.16 (95% CI, 1.02 to 1.32, model 2). Further subgroup analyses showed that severe pain was more associated with mortality for males and more educated individuals, with adjusted hazard ratios of 1.29 (95% CI, 1.08 to 1.55, model 2) and 1.62 (95% CI, 1.15 to 2.28, model 2), respectively.CONCLUSIONSPain showed a statistically significant relationship with mortality risk. Family members or medical staff should pay proper attention to pain, particularly severe pain in males and highly educated individuals.

Highlights

Further subgroup analyses showed that while both male and more educated individuals were less likely to report pain, their severe pain were more associated with mortality, for example 1.29 (95%CI: 1.08-1.55, Model 2) for male and 1.62 (95%CI: 1.15-2.28, Model 2) for more educated individuals
Epub 분석을 시행한 결과, widespread pain이 사망위험을 높이지만(Model 1 HR 1.17 95% CI: 0.97-1.42, Model2 HR 1.10 95% CI: 0.91-1.33), 통계적으로 유의한 결과를 보이지는 않았다(부표 4). 또한 통증의 유병기간을 고려하기 위해 2006년 첫 번째 패널조사 당시 통증이 있는 사람을 제외
그 결과 새로운 심한 통증집단에서 사망위험비가 1.77(Model1, 95% CI: 1.28-2.46)과 1.57(Model2, 95% CI: 1.13-2.18)로 통계적으로 유의하게 높아지는 것을 확인할 수 있었다(부표 5)

Summary

Introduction

Of 3.3) Control variables ahead 통증이 사망에 미치는 독립적인 영향을 살펴보기 위해 만성질환진단과 장애 여부를 건강 변수로 통증이 있다고 응답한 집단의 사망률은 22.4%로 통증이 없는 집단의 사망률인 13.4%에 비하여 통계적으로 유의하게 높게 나타났다(p

Objectives

Results

Conclusion