Which Pain Treatment Goals Are Important to Community-Dwelling Older Adults?

Objective In this cross-sectional study of 237 older adults, we ascertained the importance of seven pain treatment goals and identified factors associated with their perceived importance. Methods Participants (mean age = 72 years) ranked each goal (e.g., pain reduction; finding a cure) on a 1 (not at all important) to 10 (extremely important) scale. We used general linear models to identify sociodemographic and pain factors independently associated with the perceived importance of each goal and repeated measures mixed models to examine their relative importance. Results The goal with the lowest adjusted score was minimize harmful side effects from pain medications with a mean (standard error [SE]) of 6.75 (0.239), while the highest ranked goals, finding a cure, and reducing my pain had mean scores of 8.06 (0.237) and 7.89 (0.235), respectively. Pain reduction did not differ significantly from the average of the other 6 goals (P = .072) but was significantly different when compared with the goals of minimizing side effects (P < .0001) and finding a cause for the pain (P = .047), and different from the average of the five other goals excluding finding a cure (P = .021). We did not identify differences in the importance of the seven goals by gender or race/ethnicity. Age was inversely associated with the goals of minimizing harmful side effects and decreasing pain's effects on everyday activities. Pain reduction was rated more important than all other goals but finding a cure. Conclusions Future research is needed to establish the benefits of eliciting treatment goals when delivering pain care to older adults.

Automated summary

In this study, the importance of seven pain treatment goals among older adults was examined. The results showed that minimizing harmful side effects of pain medications was ranked as the least important goal, while finding a cure and reducing pain were ranked as the most important goals. There were no gender or race/ethnicity differences in the importance of these goals. Age was negatively associated with the goals of minimizing side effects and decreasing pain's effects on everyday activities. Pain reduction was rated as more important than all other goals except finding a cure.