Derek Stewart
A cross-sectional survey of the perspectives of older people in the Scottish Highlands on the management of their chronic pain.
Stewart, Derek; Rushworth, Gordon; Bailey, Nicola; Pfleger, Sharon; Jebara, Tesnime; Munro, Kim; Youngson, Elaine; Wilson, Martin; MacLeod, John; Cunningham, Scott
Authors
Gordon Rushworth
Nicola Bailey
Sharon Pfleger
Tesnime Jebara
Kim Munro
Elaine Youngson
Martin Wilson
John MacLeod
Professor Scott Cunningham s.cunningham@rgu.ac.uk
Professor
Abstract
Background: Although there is evidence of suboptimal outcomes in older people with chronic pain, little emphasis has been placed on those in remote and rural settings. Objective: To describe the perspectives of older people in the Scottish Highlands on their chronic pain management. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: NHS Highland, the most remote and rural geographical health board in Scotland. Subjects: Home-dwelling members of the public aged ≥70 years. Methods: Anonymised questionnaires were mailed to a random sample of 1800 older people. Questionnaire items were demographics, nature of any chronic pain, management regimens and perceived effectiveness. Validated scales were the Pain Disability Questionnaire and the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia. Results: Adjusted response rate was 39.3% (709/1755). One-quarter (25.0%, n = 177) were experiencing chronic pain, being more likely to live in deprived areas (P < 0.05). Median pain intensity was 6 (IQR 4–7, 10 high), causing distress (median 5, IQR 3–7). Respondents largely consulted GPs (66.1%, n = 117) with a minority (16.4%, n = 29) referred to a specialist pain clinic and few consulting other health professionals. Over three quarters (78.0%, n = 138) were receiving prescribed medicines, most commonly paracetamol, alone (35.6%, n = 63) or in combination with opioids (16.4%, n = 29). One-third (31.6%, n = 56) expressed a desire for more effective medicines; few reported using any non-pharmacological therapies. The median scores for the Pain Disability Questionnaire and Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia were 74 (IQR 34–104.5, 150 high) and 40 (IQR 35–45, 68 high). Conclusions: Evidence of provision of appropriate integrated and person-centred chronic pain care is lacking.
Citation
STEWART, D., RUSHWORTH, G., BAILEY, N., PFLEGER, S., JEBARA, T., MUNRO, K., YOUNGSON, E., WILSON, M., MACLEOD, J. and CUNNINGHAM, S. 2020. A cross-sectional survey of the perspectives of older people in the Scottish Highlands on the management of their chronic pain. Age and ageing [online], 49(3), pages 432-438. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afz181
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Dec 19, 2019 |
Online Publication Date | Jan 23, 2020 |
Publication Date | May 31, 2020 |
Deposit Date | Jan 31, 2020 |
Publicly Available Date | Jan 24, 2021 |
Journal | Age and ageing |
Print ISSN | 0002-0729 |
Electronic ISSN | 1468-2834 |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 49 |
Issue | 3 |
Pages | 432-438 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afz181 |
Keywords | Aged; Chronic pain; Questionnaire; Remote and rural; Scotland; Older people |
Public URL | https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/843568 |
Files
STEWART 2020 A cross-sectional survey
(322 Kb)
PDF
Publisher Licence URL
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
You might also like
Downloadable Citations
About OpenAIR@RGU
Administrator e-mail: publications@rgu.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2024
Advanced Search