Sunday, November 3, 2019

The change of pain classes over time; a latent transition analysis

Abstract

Background

Pain is common in older adults, and associated with increased morbidity and reduced quality of life. Recent research has highlighted different classes of older adults with pain, each with differing impacts on their life. It has not yet been investigated if, and how, such classes change over time and what influences individuals to prospectively transition to a profile of either improved or worsened pain impact.

Methods

Latent transition analysis (LTA) is a longitudinal model‐based approach to identifying underlying subgroups in a population. LTA was used to model the change in pain of people aged 50 and over, from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, across three waves (n=5,925). The LTA model was extended to include biopsychosocial covariates to predict transition probabilities between classes over time.

Results

Three latent classes were identified based on three pain indicators (pain presence; pain affects daily life; pain requires medication) and were characterised as ‘No Pain’, ‘Low‐Moderate Impact Pain’ and ‘High Impact Pain’. Results indicate that the pain class of many changes over time. However, poor physical or mental health increased the risk of transitioning to a more severe pain class, from Wave 1 to Wave 2 and Wave 2 to Wave 3.

Conclusions

These findings show the change in pain of older adults over time, with both marked improvement and deterioration being observed. Critically, the predictors of individuals transitioning between classes reflect the breadth of biopsychosocial factors involved in pain.



from Wiley: European Journal of Pain: Table of Contents https://ift.tt/2oIdcjz
via IFTTT

No comments:

Post a Comment