Tapentadol prolonged release for severe chronic osteoarthritis pain in the elderly: improvements in daily functioning and quality of life.

Chronic osteoarthritis (OA) pain leads to severe impairments in physical functioning and quality of life. Data of patients with severe chronic knee and/or hip OA pain were extracted from the database of a prospective, noninterventional trial to assess the benefits of tapentadol prolonged release (PR) in elderly patients (>65 years of age; n = 1162) compared with younger patients (≤65 years of age; n = 498). Tapentadol PR treatment (up to 3 months) significantly reduced pain intensity and pain-related restrictions on daily functioning and significantly improved physical and mental quality of life in both patient groups. The incidence of adverse drug reactions was low. Tapentadol PR is a useful strong analgesic to improve pain intensity, physical functioning and quality of life in elderly OA patients.