Abstract

Introduction: Pain is extremely common among older people. Pain has been described as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience. Older adults with pain show a reduction of activity levels. Objective: To assess the perceived health status and functionality in elderly with chronic pain. Material and method: Cross sectional study. 30 individuals older than 65 years were included. Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) was used to identify pain. We divided the cohort between elderly with pain and elderly without pain. Perceived health status was assessed with EuroQOL-5D tool and functionality was assessed with functional independence measure and Lawton & Brody Scale. Results: 15 elderly with pain and 15 elderly without pain. Differences between groups were found in depression status (p = 0.006) and anxiety status (p = 0.021). Elderly with pain referred difficulties in mobility and daily living activities. Functionality was worse in the group of elderly with pain. Conclusion: Pain negatively impacts on perceived health status in the elderly. Older adults with pain experience more problems in mobility, daily living activities and personal care than older adults without pain