Department of Physiotherapy, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Avenida Presidente Antônio Carlos 6627 Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, MG 31.270-901, Brazil.
BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2012 May 29;13:82. doi: 10.1186/1471-2474-13-82.
Population ageing is a worldwide phenomenon that has recently challenged public healthcare systems. The knowledge of the burden of chronic musculoskeletal disorders in elders is still limited, particularly in the developing world. This systematic review aimed to investigate the prevalence of chronic musculoskeletal disorders in elderly Brazilians.
A comprehensive literature search was performed in five electronic databases (from inception to January 2012) and completed by additional searches in reference lists. Two review authors independently selected the eligible studies and extracted data on participants' characteristics and rates of chronic musculoskeletal disorders. One review author extracted methodological quality data. We performed a critical synthesis of the results, which were grouped into the diagnoses "chronic musculoskeletal pain" or "specific musculoskeletal diagnoses".
Twenty five studies reporting on a total of 116,091 elderly Brazilians were included. Eight studies (32%) were of high methodological quality. There was a large variation in the measure of prevalence used by individual studies and in their definition of chronic pain. Prevalence estimates reached 86% for chronic musculoskeletal pain in any location. Studies investigating multiple pain sites found the lower limb and the spine to be the most prevalent complaints (50% each). Arthritis and rheumatism (including osteoarthritis) were the most prevalent specific musculoskeletal diagnoses (9% to 40%), followed by herniated disc (6% to 27%).
Despite the growth of the elderly population worldwide, high-quality research on the burden of chronic musculoskeletal disorders in the elderly is still scarce. Future healthcare research focusing on this age group should be a priority in developing countries since their public healthcare systems are not yet fully prepared to accommodate the needs of an aging population.
人口老龄化是一个全球性现象，最近给公共医疗体系带来了挑战。老年人慢性肌肉骨骼疾病的负担仍然知之甚少，特别是在发展中国家。本系统综述旨在调查巴西老年人慢性肌肉骨骼疾病的患病率。
我们在五个电子数据库中进行了全面的文献检索（从建库到 2012 年 1 月），并通过参考文献列表进行了额外的检索。两名综述作者独立选择合格的研究，并提取参与者特征和慢性肌肉骨骼疾病发生率的数据。一名综述作者提取了方法学质量数据。我们对结果进行了批判性综合，将结果分为“慢性肌肉骨骼疼痛”或“特定肌肉骨骼诊断”这两种诊断。
有 25 项研究报告了总共 116091 名巴西老年人，其中 8 项研究（32%）具有较高的方法学质量。个别研究使用的患病率衡量标准和慢性疼痛的定义存在很大差异。任何部位的慢性肌肉骨骼疼痛的患病率估计值达到 86%。调查多个疼痛部位的研究发现，下肢和脊柱是最常见的疾病（各占 50%）。关节炎和风湿病（包括骨关节炎）是最常见的特定肌肉骨骼诊断（9%至 40%），其次是椎间盘突出（6%至 27%）。
尽管全球老年人口不断增长，但关于老年人慢性肌肉骨骼疾病负担的高质量研究仍然很少。未来的医疗保健研究应优先关注这一年龄组，因为发展中国家的公共医疗体系尚未完全准备好满足老龄化人口的需求。
