Factors associated with chronic musculoskeletal pain among older adults attending Primary Health Care

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate factors associated with the presence of chronic musculoskeletal pain among older adults attending primary health care. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study carried out with 201 older adults recruited from three randomly selected health matrix units. Chronic musculoskeletal pain was assessed using the adapted version of the Nordic Musculoskeletal Symptom Questionnaire (NSQM). Factors investigated includes health indicators such obesity/overweight, cognitive status, depressive symptoms, multimorbidities and frailty. Health behaviors included sleep quality and physical activity. Sociodemographic aspects investigated were sex, age and education. The associations between the variables were tested using Pearson's chi-square test and binary logistic regression in SPSS 24, with a confidence interval of 95%. Results: The sample is characterized by women (77.1%), age under 75 years old and who studied up to 4 years; 68.1% reported chronic pain in some body region. Older people with chronic pain were more frequent among those with cognitive impairment, depressive symptoms, multimorbidities and frailty. Participants with higher odd of having chronic musculoskeletal pain were those with depressive symptoms (OR:0.143 [0.023-0.869]), multimorbidities (OR:0.078[0.006-0.945]), pre-frailty (OR: 0.077[0.011-0.556)] and frailty (OR:0.302[0.108-0.844)]). Conclusion: Depressive symptoms, multimorbidities and frailty were associated with the presence of chronic musculoskeletal pain, a frequent condition in older adults attending primary health care. Public policies aimed at promoting healthy longevity and facing the challenges of population aging, especially in public health settings, should address chronic pain considering biopsychosocial aspects and the influence of frailty.