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Pain and self-rated health in older people with and without type 2 diabetes

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Abstract

Background

Pain and diabetes are related to the decreased self-rated health. The aim of this population-based study was to analyze how pain affects self-rated health among people aged 65 or older with and without type 2 diabetes.

Design

Population-based cross-sectional cohort study.

Setting

Inner Savo district, Finland.

Participants

Home-dwelling people 65 and older with diabetes, and age- and sex-matched control patients without diabetes were identified from electronic patient records in primary care. Questionnaires were sent home to 514 individuals with type 2 diabetes and 890 individuals without diabetes.

Measurements

The study participants rated their health with the Likert-type scale and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). According to experienced pain, three groups were formed: (1) subjects without pain or with pain once a week at most, (2) pain more often than once a week, and (3) daily or continuous pain.

Results

When adjusted for propensity score, the decreased proportion of people with good self-rated health was associated with frequent pain (p < 0.001). No interaction between diabetes and pain was found (p = 0.55). Respectively, the decreasing ratings of self-rated health in VAS was associated with frequent pain (p < 0.001) without interaction (p = 0.14). Daily pain was associated similarly with poor self-rated health in people with and without diabetes.

Conclusions

Frequent pain independently and without interaction associated with self-rated health in older adults. Frequent pain may have more significant impact on self-rated health than diabetes. Preventing and treating frequent pain in older people with and without diabetes may have significant potential in retaining and improving self-rated health.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, General Practice, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, 70211, Kuopio, Finland

    Merja Karjalainen & Pekka Mäntyselkä

  2. Inner-Savo Health Centre, Suonenjoki, Finland

    Merja Karjalainen

  3. School of Pharmacy, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, 70211, Kuopio, Finland

    Miia Tiihonen

  4. Primary Health Care Unit, Kuopio University Hospital, P.O. Box 100, 70029 KYS, Kuopio, Finland

    Hannu Kautiainen & Pekka Mäntyselkä

  5. Unit of Primary Health Care, Helsinki University Central Hospital, P.O. Box 100, 00029 HUS, Helsinki, Finland

    Hannu Kautiainen

  6. Central Finland Central Hospital, Keskussairaalantie 19, 40620, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Juha Saltevo

  7. Etera Mutual Pension Insurance Company, Palkkatilanportti 1, 00240, Helsinki, Finland

    Maija Haanpää

  8. Department of Neurosurgery, Helsinki University Hospital, P.O. Box 100, 00029 HUS, Helsinki, Finland

    Maija Haanpää

Authors
  1. Merja Karjalainen
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  2. Miia Tiihonen
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  3. Hannu Kautiainen
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  4. Juha Saltevo
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  5. Maija Haanpää
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  6. Pekka Mäntyselkä
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Contributions

MK wrote the manuscript and researched data. MH and JS researched data, contributed to the discussion, and edited the manuscript. PM researched data, wrote, and reviewed the manuscript. MT wrote and edited the manuscript. HK takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Miia Tiihonen.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical approval

The study protocol of the ISDM (Inner-Savo Diabetes Mellitus) study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Northern Savo Hospital District, Kuopio, Finland.

Informed consent

For this type of this study, informed consent is not required.

Funding

This work was supported by the North Savo Cultural Foundation, which gave a personal Grant to M.K.

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Karjalainen, M., Tiihonen, M., Kautiainen, H. et al. Pain and self-rated health in older people with and without type 2 diabetes. Eur Geriatr Med 9, 127–131 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41999-017-0017-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41999-017-0017-z

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