Story URL: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=140225
Story Retrieval Date: 2/9/2010 7:59:37 PM CST
Clarise Hildreth, 88, a sufferer of persistent pain.
Persistent pain may speed signs of aging, study reveals
Clarise Hildreth, 88, has pain in the knees, stiffness and wears a pain patch. The resident of the Johnston R. Bowman Health Center in Chicago's West Side, was diagnosed with a severe arthritic condition affecting her spine.
But while she suffers from pain, she still enjoys participating in daily activities, including shopping and going out to lunch with friends.
“You can adjust your life to the pain. If you work out and take the medicines and treatments that are necessary, then you can do it. It’s [in] the mindset,” she said. She said she started feeling persistent back pain several years ago. Hildreth is among the lucky ones because she gets pain relief.
It’s common knowledge that as you get older, daily tasks such as carrying your groceries, can get harder. A new Northwestern University and University of California, San Francisco study, published in the September issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, found constant pain interferes with people's ability to accomplish basic tasks. They found that pain may accelerate some signs normally associated with aging.
“The rate at which people develop disabilities associated with aging happens at markedly different rates,” said Dr. Kenneth Covinsky, the lead researcher of the study and staff physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. Pain may help explain why some people experience functional limitations in mobility, or a decline in the ability to do simple tasks, faster than others, he said.
Researchers analyzed data from over 18,000 Americans involved in the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Started in 1992 and sponsored by the National Institute on Aging, the Health and Retirement Study is an ongoing longitudinal study that focuses on Americans aged 50 and over.
Participants were asked to rate their ability levels across four measures: mobility, stair climbing, upper extremity tasks, including the ability to lift their arms over their heads, and activity of daily living, such as dressing and eating. Beforehand, subjects were asked if they experienced pain on a regular basis. Subjects with pain then rated their pain levels from mild to severe.
Subjects in their fifties with persistent pain were similar to subjects in their eighties without continuous pain. For example, while more than 90 percent of subjects in their fifties without pain were able to walk several blocks, only 50 percent of pain ridden subjects in their fifties reported walking several blocks with ease.
"It’s well known that [functional] disability increases with age, such as problems with walking and self care tasks. What’s notable about this study is that pain seems to push people in their fifties into levels of disability [of those] twenty or thirty years older,” said Dr. Dorothy Dunlop, an associate professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and another researcher involved in the study.
Dr. Martin Gorbien, director of Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Care at Rush University Medical Center, and unaffiliated with the study, agreed with the findings.
“This is a well-designed study which confirms something that seasoned clinicians have believed for a long time. In the field of aging, it’s not about the age but rather about the functional status of patients,” he said.
Gorbien said pain could be undertreated and overlooked in older patients, usually due to a combination of factors such as ageism, or prejudice due to a person’s age, and patients’ assumptions about their own health.
“Doctors may think old people are complainers [because] they have so many problems going on, and [older] patients themselves sometimes have low expectations for their own health,” he said. He recalled one of his patients who passed away recently at the age of 89 kept on putting off knee replacement surgery because she said she was too old. But an impending birthday party spurred her to have the surgery, and she was able to dance at her party.
“We can almost always find a pain regimen that is appropriate for a person’s condition based on age, other medical conditions, and medications that they take,” Gorbien said.
Dunlop also stressed that the middle aged and seniors should not write off their pain.
“It’s very important for them to realize that pain is something that needs to be addressed. It’s not something that one accepts as part of aging and ignores. Pain [management] can make a huge difference as to how well they function and how well they embrace life,” she said.
Hildreth, Gorbien’s patient, remained hopeful about her daily battle with pain. “My grandfather lived to be a 110 and I hope to live that long,” she said.
One of the pain patches Hildreth uses to manage her symptoms.
Clarise Hildreth, 88, has pain in the knees, stiffness and wears a pain patch. The resident of the Johnston R. Bowman Health Center in Chicago's West Side, was diagnosed with a severe arthritic condition affecting her spine.
But while she suffers from pain, she still enjoys participating in daily activities, including shopping and going out to lunch with friends.
“You can adjust your life to the pain. If you work out and take the medicines and treatments that are necessary, then you can do it. It’s [in] the mindset,” she said. She said she started feeling persistent back pain several years ago. Hildreth is among the lucky ones because she gets pain relief.
It’s common knowledge that as you get older, daily tasks such as carrying your groceries, can get harder. A new Northwestern University and University of California, San Francisco study, published in the September issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, found constant pain interferes with people's ability to accomplish basic tasks. They found that pain may accelerate some signs normally associated with aging.
“The rate at which people develop disabilities associated with aging happens at markedly different rates,” said Dr. Kenneth Covinsky, the lead researcher of the study and staff physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. Pain may help explain why some people experience functional limitations in mobility, or a decline in the ability to do simple tasks, faster than others, he said.
Researchers analyzed data from over 18,000 Americans involved in the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Started in 1992 and sponsored by the National Institute on Aging, the Health and Retirement Study is an ongoing longitudinal study that focuses on Americans aged 50 and over.
Participants were asked to rate their ability levels across four measures: mobility, stair climbing, upper extremity tasks, including the ability to lift their arms over their heads, and activity of daily living, such as dressing and eating. Beforehand, subjects were asked if they experienced pain on a regular basis. Subjects with pain then rated their pain levels from mild to severe.
Subjects in their fifties with persistent pain were similar to subjects in their eighties without continuous pain. For example, while more than 90 percent of subjects in their fifties without pain were able to walk several blocks, only 50 percent of pain ridden subjects in their fifties reported walking several blocks with ease.
"It’s well known that [functional] disability increases with age, such as problems with walking and self care tasks. What’s notable about this study is that pain seems to push people in their fifties into levels of disability [of those] twenty or thirty years older,” said Dr. Dorothy Dunlop, an associate professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and another researcher involved in the study.
Dr. Martin Gorbien, director of Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Care at Rush University Medical Center, and unaffiliated with the study, agreed with the findings.
“This is a well-designed study which confirms something that seasoned clinicians have believed for a long time. In the field of aging, it’s not about the age but rather about the functional status of patients,” he said.
Gorbien said pain could be undertreated and overlooked in older patients, usually due to a combination of factors such as ageism, or prejudice due to a person’s age, and patients’ assumptions about their own health.
“Doctors may think old people are complainers [because] they have so many problems going on, and [older] patients themselves sometimes have low expectations for their own health,” he said. He recalled one of his patients who passed away recently at the age of 89 kept on putting off knee replacement surgery because she said she was too old. But an impending birthday party spurred her to have the surgery, and she was able to dance at her party.
“We can almost always find a pain regimen that is appropriate for a person’s condition based on age, other medical conditions, and medications that they take,” Gorbien said.
Dunlop also stressed that the middle aged and seniors should not write off their pain.
“It’s very important for them to realize that pain is something that needs to be addressed. It’s not something that one accepts as part of aging and ignores. Pain [management] can make a huge difference as to how well they function and how well they embrace life,” she said.
Hildreth, Gorbien’s patient, remained hopeful about her daily battle with pain. “My grandfather lived to be a 110 and I hope to live that long,” she said.
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