Determine if the multidimensional pain-related experience differs between cognitively intact and impaired older adults.
Cross-sectional analysis of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging.
Community-dwelling older adults.
Pain reports were dichotomized from a 5-point scale into no/very mild vs moderate and greater. Cognition measured by the Modified Mini Mental State Exam (0-100) was dichotomized into cognitively intact (>77) and cognitively impaired (=77). Five self-rated Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) were dichotomized into no impairment vs any impairment. The Mental Health Inventory consists of five self-rated questions about psychological state and well-being, with scores ranging from 0 to 30; scores >11 indicate depression. Self-rated health was dichotomized into very good/pretty good and not too good/poor/very poor. Additional covariates included demographics and co-morbidities.
Of the 5,549 (97.3%) eligible participants, 1,991 (35.9%) reported pain of moderate intensity or greater, and 1,028 (18.5%) were cognitively impaired. Among cognitively impaired participants, moderate or greater pain report was associated with functional impairment odds ratio (OR) = 1.74 (1.15, 2.62; P