Frailty is associated with pain and cognitive function in older people in post-acute care settings

Abstract

Background: To describe pain, cognitive function, and frailty of older people in post-acute care settings and examine the association between the three elements.

Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 142 participants from a rehabilitation ward and a geriatric day centre. Pain, cognitive function and frailty were assessed using Brief Pain Inventory, Abbreviated Mental Test, and 5-item Frail Scale respectively.

Results: Participants were mostly women (51.7%) with a mean age of 76.5 (SD 7.8). Mean scores for pain, cognition, and frailty were 9.0 ± 1.0, 4.0 ± 2.8, and 2.2 ± 1.2, respectively. Cognition had a significant inverse association with frailty (β = -0.160, p = 0.047), and pain had a significant positive association with frailty (β = 5.122, p < 0.001). This linear regression model explained a variance of 0.269.

Conclusions: The study demonstrated the association between pain, cognitive function, and frailty. In predicting frailty, however, more studies are required to determine the predictive value and cut-off points for pain and cognitive measures.

Keywords: Cognition; Frailty; Pain; Rehabilitation.