Chronic pain, depression symptoms and daily living independency level among geriatrics in nursing home

The aim of this study was to investigate pain, depression and independence in activities of daily living in geriatric residents of nursing homes, as well as to evaluate the relationship between these parameters.

186 nursing home residents, aged 65 to 90 years, were enrolled in the study. Their socio-demographic features, depression levels, pain levels and independence in activities of daily living were evaluated using a socio-demographic assessment form, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and the Nottingham Extended Activities of Daily Living Index (NEADL), respectively. For statistical analyses, participants were divided into groups with and without chronic pain.

The main finding of this study was that 55.9% of the participants reported chronic pain, and these participants had significantly higher GDS (p=0.001) and lower NEADL scores (p=0.01) than those who reported no chronic pain. We found a significant correlation between VAS and GDS (r=0.47, p=0.001), VAS and NEADL (r=-0.30, p=0.001), and GDS and NEADL scores (r=-0.50, p=0.001). Female gender (p=0.001), number of children (p=0.005), number of chronic diseases (p=0.009), and GDS score (p=0.001) were found to affect chronic pain in multivariate model.

Investigation of pain, presence of depression, and independence in activities of daily living is important in determining the necessary measures to be adopted for promoting the health and well-being of the geriatric population.