Abstract
Poor mental health is common among older adults with pain, resulting in high economic burden and impaired quality of life. This retrospective, cross-sectional database study aimed to identify characteristics associated with good mental health status among United States (US) adults aged ≥50 years with self-reported pain in the last four weeks using a weighted sample of 2017 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data. Hierarchical multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify statistically significant predictors of good (versus poor) perceived mental health status. From a weighted population of 57,074,842 individuals, 85.5% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 84.4%, 86.7%) had good perceived mental health. Good mental health was associated most strongly with physical health status (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 9.216, 95% CI = 7.044, 12.058). Employed individuals were 1.7 times more likely to report good mental health versus unemployed (AOR = 1.715, 95% CI = 1.199, 2.452). Individuals who had completed less than high school education (AOR = 0.750, 95% CI = 0.569, 0.987) or who reported having a limitation (AOR = 0.513, 95% CI = 0.384, 0.684) were less likely to report good mental health. These key characteristics can be utilized to predict mental health status, which may be investigated to better manage concurrent pain and poor mental health.
Highlights
Given that pain is a function of physical health status, it seems intuitive that perceived physical health status was associated with mental health status among older adults with pain in this study
This is further supported by the inflammation hypothesis, which suggests that mental health decline related to neuroinflammation, intrinsic to older adults, is exacerbated by pain related to multiple other etiologies [29]
While current and past research reinforce the importance of providing access to rehabilitative care, in older patients with poor mental and physical health status, additional findings of this study suggest that environmental predictors and modification may promote good mental health status
Summary
The estimated prevalence of pain in US adults ranges from 100 to 126 million [4,5], and perpetuates in older adults discriminately; the prevalence of pain in older adults (aged >60 years) has been shown to reach rates of 55% [6]. As a result of economic, social, medical, and public health advancements, the percentage of older adults continues to rise in congruency with the number of patients with pain [7]. The total economic cost of pain is estimated to range from USD 560 to USD 635 billion per year in 2010 dollars [4,8]. In addition to economic consequences, pain has been associated with worse health outcomes such as disability, more frequent physician visits, and an overall impaired quality of life [4,9]. Pain is associated with differences in various personal characteristics, including older age [6,10], gender [11,12], ethnicity [5], race [13], socioeconomic class [14], education status [15], employment status [16], comorbidities [17], smoking and alcohol consumption [18,19], and exercise [20,21]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
