courtesy ACR Daily News
CHICAGO—Rheumatology healthcare providers should embrace collaborative approaches to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain in older adult patients, including models of care that involve multiple providers, patients and their caregivers. That was the message delivered by two speakers in the Interdisciplinary Management of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain in Older Adults session at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting.
“As musculoskeletal specialists, it is particularly appropriate [we] focus on the aging population. The National Institute on Aging predicts a very large increase in disability will be caused by increases in age-related disease, and arthritis and back pain are at the top of that list.1 This has enormous implications for social support systems, resources and our economy,” said Una E. Makris, MD, MSc, associate professor of medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.
Although chronic pain prevalence statistics vary, as many as 80% of people in nursing homes will experience chronic pain.2 “We know that aging is a risk factor for chronic musculoskeletal pain. We also know that pain in later life increases the risk for multiple adverse effects,” including falls and fracture, depression and/or anxiety, and frailty and mobility problems, she said.3-5
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