Background & Aims
Pain is a global public health problem. In addition to its social and economic impact, pain and pain-related diseases are the leading cause of disability and disease burden globally. Pain prevalence increases with increasing age, with significant impacts on older adult’s well-being and quality of life. Given the global population ageing, a better understanding of the prevalence, incidence, and biopsychosocial model of pain is crucial if we are to promote healthy ageing and reduce pain burden, which highlights the importance of data collection on pain across various resources, particularly data from longitudinal cohort studies. To provide an overview of pain data availability and gaps, we identified and systematised ageing cohorts across the globe.
Methods
We searched for ageing cohorts across the globe that included participants aged 60+ at baseline. Studies involving younger cohorts were also incorporated if ageing was a primary focus of data collection or if study objectives evolved over time. We extracted data availability on pain in each cohort study, as one of the intrinsic capacity domains that shape older adult’s healthy ageing. Building on the World Health Organization’s framework on healthy ageing, we also extracted data availability on demographics, social and environmental factors, and other intrinsic capacity domains measured in each cohort study.
Results
We found 287 ageing cohort studies globally, spanning Europe (n=82), Oceania (n=25), Asia (n=68), North America (n=90), South America (n=8), the Middle East (n=8), and Africa (n=7). Over 80% of cohort studies from Oceania collected at least one pain-related data, followed by 75% in South America, 71% in Africa, 67% in Europe, about 60% in the Middle East and Asia, and <50% in North America. Cohort studies explicitly aimed to study ageing showed higher availability of pain-related data compared to those without such an aim, especially in the Middle East, where 80% of ageing-focused studies collected pain-related data, while none among those without that aim did so. These cohort studies commonly collected socioeconomic data; <30% collected data on neighbourhood conditions; and 50-70% collected data on social factors (e.g., social support). Most cohort studies had at least one measure for physical (>71%), cognitive (>63%), and psychological functioning (>75%) and disability (>63%).
Conclusions
These results underscore the current wealth of data from cohort studies, which can be used to provide evidence-based information with the goal of reducing the prevalence of pain and its consequences. Notably, pain-related data were collected in >60% of the included cohort studies (except in North America). However, overall data availability remains limited in South America, the Middle East, and Africa, which needs to be addressed. This project represents a novel, comprehensive synthesis of ageing cohort studies to inform better research. Further studies are needed to gather detailed information on the comparability of cohort studies in terms of measurement methods.
References
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3.Wainwright E; Bevan S; Blyth FM; Khalatbari-Soltani S; Sullivan MJL; Walker-Bone K; Eccleston C. Pain, work, and the workplace: a topical review. PAIN 163(3):p 408-414, March 2022.