Chronic pain in elderly people during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background: International studies have shown negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mood and levels of distress. Correlations between the pandemic and higher levels of pain as well as greater pain-related disability have also been found; however, studies report ambiguous results about whether elderly people cope differently with the pandemic and its effects. Methods: The University Hospital of Würzburg offers multimodal pain therapy for older adults. The current study performed a retrospective analysis of routine data measured during an interdisciplinary multimodal assessment. We compared n = 75 patients taking part in the therapy during 2018 and 2019 to n = 42 patients assessed in 2020–2021. We measured pain, mental distress and physical functioning using the German Pain Questionnaire, clinical diagnosis, and geriatric tests of physical fitness. Results: Both subgroups did not differ in demographic characteristics, neither did we find significant differences regarding pain intensity, pain-related disability, and mental health; however, patients before the pandemic reported a higher number of days on which they felt limited due to pain. In the physical performance test, we even found significantly better results during the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussion: The current data do not support an aggravation of pain or mental and physical well-being. Possible explanations could be better resilience in elderly people due to their experience of life, financial security or less change in their daily life.