Mohamed Zaki Lily R, Hairi Noran N
Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Julius Centre University of Malaya, Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Maturitas. 2014 Dec;79(4):435-41. doi: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2014.08.014. Epub 2014 Sep 13.
The aims of this study were to report prevalence of chronic pain and to examine whether chronic pain influence healthcare usage among elderly Malaysian population.
This was a sub-population analysis of the elderly sample in the Malaysia's Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS III) 2006, a nation-wide population based survey. A subset of 4954 elderly aged 60 years and above was used in the analysis. Chronic pain, pain's interference and outcome variables of healthcare utilization (hospital admission and ambulatory care service) were all measured and determined by self-report.
Prevalence of chronic pain among elderly Malaysian was 15.2% (95% CI: 14.5, 16.8). Prevalence of chronic pain increased with advancing age, and the highest prevalence was seen among the old-old group category (21.5%). Across young-old and old-old groups, chronic pain was more prevalent among females, Indian ethnicity, widows/widowers, rural residency and those with no educational background. Our study showed that chronic pain alone increased hospitalization but not visits to ambulatory facilities. Presence of chronic pain was significantly associated with the frequency of hospitalization (aIRR 1.11; 95% CI 1.02, 1.38) but not ambulatory care service.
Chronic pain is a prevalent health problem among the elderly in Malaysia and is associated with higher hospitalization rate among the elderly population. This study provides insight into the distribution of chronic pain among the elderly and its relationship with the patterns of healthcare utilization.
本研究旨在报告慢性疼痛的患病率，并探讨慢性疼痛是否会影响马来西亚老年人群的医疗保健使用情况。
这是对2006年马来西亚第三次全国健康与发病率调查（NHMS III）中老年样本的亚人群分析，该调查是一项基于全国人口的调查。分析中使用了4954名60岁及以上老年人的子集。慢性疼痛、疼痛干扰以及医疗保健利用的结果变量（住院和门诊护理服务）均通过自我报告进行测量和确定。
马来西亚老年人中慢性疼痛的患病率为15.2%（95%置信区间：14.5, 16.8）。慢性疼痛的患病率随年龄增长而增加，在高龄组中患病率最高（21.5%）。在年轻老人和高龄老人组中，慢性疼痛在女性、印度族裔、寡妇/鳏夫、农村居民以及无教育背景的人群中更为普遍。我们的研究表明，仅慢性疼痛就会增加住院率，但不会增加门诊设施的就诊率。慢性疼痛的存在与住院频率显著相关（调整发病率比1.11；95%置信区间1.02, 1.38），但与门诊护理服务无关。
慢性疼痛是马来西亚老年人中普遍存在的健康问题，并且与老年人群较高的住院率相关。本研究深入了解了慢性疼痛在老年人中的分布情况及其与医疗保健利用模式的关系。
