Chronic pain: challenges and assessment strategies

Older adults are a rapidly growing segment of the world population, and long-term care will continue to be a major concern for most health care institutions in this century. Pain management remains at the forefront of long-term care issues, with older patients more subject than younger patients to chronic disease states that predispose them to pain. Assessment and management of chronic pain, however, are impeded by a lack of patient and caregiver education regarding pain, widespread misconceptions about pain in older patients, and special concerns and cautions for appropriate analgesic use in this population. This is the first of a two-part series highlighting issues and strategies related to pain assessment in older adults.