Relationship Between Persistent Pain and 5-Year Mortality: A Population-Based Prospective Cohort Study

ObjectivesTo assess the association between self-reported noncancer pain and 5-year mortality. DesignCohort. SettingCommunity-dwelling older adults. ParticipantsCanadian Study of Health and Aging 1996 wave. MeasurementsRegistrar of Vital Statistics-established 5-year mortality. Noncancer pain was assessed using the 5-point verbal descriptor scale, dichotomized into no or very mild versus moderate, severe, or very severe pain. Frailty was the accumulation of health deficits. Cognitive status (Modified Mini-Mental State Examination) and depressed mood (five-item mental health screening questionnaire) were also assessed. Multivariable logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards were used to analyze the relationship between pain and 5-year mortality. ResultsOf 5,703 participants, 4,694 (82.3%) had complete data for analysis; 1,663 of these (35.4%) reported moderate, severe, or very severe pain, and 1,343 (28.6%) had died at 5-year follow-up. Four hundred ninety-six of those who died (29.8%) reported moderate, severe, or very severe pain and 847 (27.9%) no or very mild pain. Multivariate logistic analysis found that individuals with moderate, severe, or very severe pain had lower odds of 5-year mortality than those with no or very mild pain (odds ratio=0.78, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.66-0.92; P<.001). The risk of death was lower in persons reporting moderate or greater pain than in those with no or very mild pain (HR=0.85, 95% CI=0.75-0.96; P=.01). An interaction between pain and sex explained this effect. Men with pain were not significantly more likely than men without pain to die (HR=1.00, 95% CI=0.84-1.19; P=.99), whereas women without pain (HR=0.54, 95% CI=0.47-0.63; P<0.01) and women with pain (HR=0.40; CI=0.33-0.47; P<.01) had less risk of death than men without and with pain, respectively. ConclusionOlder women with pain were less likely to die within 5years than older women without pain, men in pain, or men without pain.