Study finds older people don’t get pain ratings as often as younger people

Elderly people over 65 received less pain The new study found that they had lower pain ratings and smaller differences in pain ratings after a traumatic event compared to younger adults.

“Given the importance of pain management after traumatic injury, less frequent pain assessment and lower pain ratings may lead to less pain management in older adults,” said the authors of the report, published Wednesday in JAMA Surgery.

The researchers assessed the frequency of pain assessments and the intensity and variability of pain scores by age among 21,063 people admitted to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital between 2012 and 2022. The study included 14,295 adults aged 18 to 64 years and 6,768 adults over 65 years of age (group 1). . A secondary analysis compared 16,620 participants aged 18 to 74 years with 4,443 adults over 75 years of age (cohort 2).

More older people were admitted to the intensive care unit, and more younger people had surgery after injury. The severity of pain was significantly lower in older people than in younger people. After adjustment, mean pain intensity during hospital stay was lower in Group 1 and Group 2 compared with younger adults. Pain scores also varied less among older adults. After adjustment, the magnitude of the mean pain rating was similar in groups 1 and 2 compared with younger adults.

The finding of less frequent pain assessments in older adults is consistent with a study showing that older trauma patients assessed pain less frequently than required by hospital protocol. “One study found that older adults may suppress pain to avoid procedures or maintain discretion,” the authors write.

The authors caution that if older adults rate pain less frequently and have lower pain scores, they may not have optimal pain management. The team said future studies should examine what factors play a role in pain reporting between hospitalized older and younger patients, and the association of these factors with outcomes such as inpatient pain medication use and pain after discharge.