Assessing the Relationship Between Chronic Pain and Frailty in Older Adults

Assessment of the Prevelance of Chronic Pain and Its Relationship to Frailty in Older Adults

Pain is an unpleasant emotional sensation related to one's past experiences, originating from a certain part of the body, due to tissue damage or not. Pain is the most commonly reported symptom in the elderly. Chronic pain is persistent or recurrent pain lasting more than 3 months. It is a maladaptive process or a disease that requires multimodal treatment that causes functional decline, independent of the healing process, accompanied by affective, cognitive and motivational disorders, and deterioration in quality of life. Frailty: It is defined as a clinical condition characterized by weakness, physical disability, functional regression, inadequacy in activities of daily living, and increased dependence, which develops as a result of the decrease in physiological reserves in the body with age. It has been reported that the risk of falls, disability, hospitalization and premature death is higher in the frail elderly. The prevalence of vulnerability in societies varies. Frailty rates ranging from 4 to 59% have been reported in developed and developing countries. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate whether there is a relationship between chronic pain and frailty in individuals aged 65 and over.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Chronic Pain; Frailty
• Intervention / Treatment: Diagnostic test: 4 meter walking speed and hand grip strength

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 203

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Turkey
  • Manisa, Turkey
    • Manisa Celal Bayar University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

The universe of the study consists of all individuals aged 65 and over registered in a family health center. Participants to be included in the study from this universe will be determined using the stratified random sampling method.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients with chronic pain who are registered with a family medicine unit

Exclusion Criteria:

• Having an active malignancy,
• having a physical disability,
• being bedridden,
• having a psychotic disorder,
• having a cognitive disorder, and refusing to participate.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
frailty	Participants' frailty levels will be determined.	12 months
chronic pain	The relationship between participants' frailty levels and chronic pain frequency will be examined.	6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Celal Bayar University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 1, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 31, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): December 31, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 9, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 1, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): November 4, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 10, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 9, 2025
• Last Verified: April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pain; Neurologic Manifestations; Pathologic Processes; Frailty; Chronic Pain
• Other Study ID Numbers: MCBU-SM-FM-01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED
• IPD Plan Description: upon request of the board

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No