Characterizing symptom burden among community-dwelling older adults

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Clinical Epidemiology
• Public Health

Background:

• Older adults frequently experience multiple co-occurring symptoms.
• These symptoms increase healthcare use, reduce physical function, and lower quality of life.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize symptom burden in community-dwelling older adults.
• To identify distinct classes of symptom burden using latent class analysis.

Main Methods:

• Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests analyzed symptom prevalence and demographics.
• Latent class analysis identified four symptom burden groups: mild, moderate, moderate-severe, and severe.
• Nine symptoms were assessed: pain, balance, weakness, endurance, sleep, depression, anxiety, hearing, and vision.

Main Results:

• Pain was highly prevalent (81.3%), with severe pain in 43.1%.
• Vision, hearing, sleep, and endurance issues affected over 40% of participants.
• Four symptom burden classes were identified: mild (30.1%), moderate (51.3%), moderate-severe (10.2%), and severe (8.4%).
• The severe group had worse outcomes across all symptoms; pain and vision were consistent across groups.

Conclusions:

• Understanding symptom burden is crucial for identifying clinical indicators.
• Symptom burden may serve as a novel indicator for fall risk and other adverse health outcomes.