Multisite Pain

Pain is one of the most serious health concerns worldwide (1-4). Several studies have demonstrated an increasing pain prevalence which in turn leads to a substantially accumulative global health and economic burden (1, 2, 5-8). In addition to that, a recent study determined that pain is one of the leading reasons of global years lived with disability (1). It is reasonable, therefore, to adopt the notion that as life expectancy increases, the impact of pain- related disability is probably predicted to increase (1, 8).
Currently, a paradigm shift in our understanding of pain has emerged. Pain is now regarded as a continuum of “spreadness” from single pain site to multisite pain (3, 7, 9-14). It is evident that the existence of multisite pain
Almost 60% of the individuals aged ≥65 years reporting multisite pain (15) while this figure has been estimated close to 80% in younger ages (7). Recently, it has been found that the manifestation of multisite pain increases four times the likelihood of medical consumption, sickness absence and restricted work (7). Further evidence persistently demonstrates that
Hence, pinpointing pain-related disability factors which may contribute to multisite pain in older adults is indispensable for optimal pain clinical demonstration, assessment and treatment. Results from a previous study of multisite pain suggest a linear relationship between several demographic characteristics, lifestyle, and health-related factors and the number of pain sites in a Norwegian general population, ranging from 24 to 86 years old (11). We have recently shown that female sex, pain duration, pain interference, anxiety, and insomnia significantly related to the increase in the number of pain sites in adults with chronic pain (32). Population-based studies also reported an association with an increase in the number of pain sites and obesity in the adulthood (11, 33, 34). However, the epidemiological evidence in relation to the prevalence and the potential factors of multisite pain in older adults is rather sporadic. The majority of the studies mixed up adults and older adults and to our best knowledge only a few of those included either solely elderly subjects (≥65years) or oldest old subjects i.e., aged ≥ 86 years. To address this need, this study aimed to examine and confirm whether the number of pain