Effect of intensity and location of local musculoskeletal pain on quality of life in elderly, Kerman, Iran

Introduction: There is high prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in the elderly. The better life is main challenge in today's world and the quality of life is essential. The experience of elderly with musculoskeletal pain and its impact on their quality of life (QOL) was not described in detail. Methods: Our research was cross-sectional study conducted in Kerman. 277 elderly participated in the study. Data were collected using SF-36 quality of life questionnaire. Data were analyzed using, t-test, and ANOVA. Results: 122 men and 155 women with mean age of 71.5 (SD=6) were investigated in this study. Pain prevalence was 79.8%. The mean pain intensity was 4.3 (SD=1.4) and the average number of pain sites was 2 (SD=1.7). Quality of life in women was less than men in many dimensions (P<0.05). Quality of life at participants with musculoskeletal pain was significantly lower than that in participants without musculoskeletal pain (P<0.05). Conclusion: This study confirmed that musculoskeletal pain is frequent in the elderly and a high proportion of elderly suffer from multiple pains and subsequent lower quality of life.