Managing chronic pain in older people

Managing chronic pain in older people

Pain management needs to be tailored for older people. The British Pain Society and British Geriatric Society produced guidelines specifically for this client group

This link is to a page summarizing an article from the professional journal Nursing Times. The article lists five key points:

1. Pain is a risk factor for falls in older people
2. It is thought that 50% of older adults living in the community, and 80% of those living in care homes, experience chronic pain
3. Few studies look at the effects of pharmacological interventions specifically on older people
4. Combination therapy using different classes of analgesics may be more effective with fewer side-effects, compared with higher doses of a single medicine
5. Further research is needed on psychological treatments for pain in older people

You can see the entire two-page article by clicking on the link for the PDF file under “Related Files” in the middle of the page.