Comparison of the cognitive performance of elderly caregivers with and without chronic pain

Terassi, Marielli; Rossetti, Estefani Serafim; Gramani-Say, Karina; Alexandre, Tiago da Silva; Hortense, Priscilla; Pavarini, Sofia Cristina Iost

doi:10.1590/S1980-220X2016023203260

Brasil

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Original Article • Rev. esc. enferm. USP 51 • 2017 • https://doi.org/10.1590/S1980-220X2016023203260 linkcopy

Comparison of the cognitive performance of elderly caregivers with and without chronic pain^{^*}

Comparación del desempeño cognitivo de ancianos cuidadores con y sin dolor crónico

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

OBJECTIVE Understanding and characterizing chronic pain in elderly caregivers, verifying the cognitive performance of the elderly of the sample and verifying whether there is difference in the cognitive performance of elderly caregivers with and without chronic pain.

METHOD Participants were people aged 60 years or older who lived with another elderly person in the same household and who were registered in Family Health Units. Data collection took place at participants' homes. Pain was assessed by the EMADOR and cognition was assessed by ACE-R. Statistical analyzes were performed using Shapiro-Wilk's and Mann-Whitney U tests.

RESULTS The study included 187 elderly caregivers with chronic pain and 133 without chronic pain, with a higher frequency of women. Chronic pain was present in 58.4% of the participants. Regarding the sociodemographic variables, there was no difference between the groups except for the gender variable (p=0.025). No difference was found in cognitive performance among the elderly with chronic pain and those without chronic pain for any domain of the ACE-R instrument.

CONCLUSION The results contradicted the initial hypothesis that there would be a difference between the groups; however, there is a gap in the scientific knowledge on chronic pain and cognition, especially in elderly caregivers, opening perspectives for future investigations.

DESCRIPTORS Aged; Caregivers; Chronic Pain; Cognition; Geriatric Nursing

Variables	Chronic pain (n=187)	Without chronic pain (n=133)	P
Gender
Female	80.7%	69.9%	0.025
Male	19.2%	30.8%	0.025
Age (median)	67	69
Variation (min.-max.)	(60 - 95)	(60 - 98)
60 to 69 years old	62.5%	52.6%	0.116
70 to 79 years old	26.8%	37.6%	0.116
≥ 80 years old	10.7%	9.8%
*Family Income^ * Median family income in minimum wages (minimum wage referring to the year 2014). (median)**	2.6	2.5
≥ 1 to 3	59.8%	58.5%	0.255
> 3	35.8%	33.1%
Not reported	8.49%	8.4%
Marital Status
Married/conjugal life	88.7%	90.9%	0.522
Not married/without partner	11.3%	9.1%	0.522
Education level^ Median education level in years of studying. (median)	4	3
Variation (min.-max.)	(0 - 17)	(0 - 19)	0.214
Illiterate	14.4%	21.8%
1 to 4 years	64.1%	62.5%
5 to 9 years	9.7%	9.0%
10 or more years	11.8%	6.7%

Variables	With pain (n=187)	Without pain (n=133)	p
Number of medicines (median)	3.6	2.3
None	7.5%	18%	0.001
1 to 4	62.5%	67%
5 or more	30%	15%
Care time in years (median)	5	4
< 1 year	19.5%	22.7%	0.312
1 to 4 years	24.9%	31.9%
5 to 9 years	19.5%	21.8%
≥ 10 years	36.1%	23.6%
Care time per day (hours) (median)	4.5	4
1 to 4 hours	50%	51.7%	0.785
5 to 9 hours	26.9%	24%
≥ 10 hours	23.1%	24%
Depression symptoms
Present	29.5%	10.6%	<0.001
Absent	70.5%	89.4%	<0.001
Burden (median)	17	12
Mild	59.1%	75.1%	0.001
Moderate	28.5%	18.8%
Moderate to severe	10.2%	6.1%
Severe	2.2%	0%

	Chronic pain (n=187)		Without chronic pain (n=133)		P
ACE domains	Mean(±SD)	Median	Mean(±SD)	Median	P
Attention and orientation	14.0(±2.5)	14	13.3(±3.0)	14	0.073
Memory	15.3 (±6.1)	15	14.1 (±6.1)	15	0.144
Fluency	6.0 (±2.7)	6	5.6 (±3)	6	0.289
Language	18.0 (±5.4)	19	18.1 (±5.7)	19	0.513
Visuospatial skills	10.5 (±3.5)	10	10.1 (±3.8)	10	0.518
Total ACE-R	64.6 (±17.4)	64	61.3 (±18.3)	64	0.209

Variables	Chronic pain (n=187)		Without chronic pain (n=133)		P
Variables	Mean(±SD)	Median	Mean(±SD)	Median	P
Education Level
Illiterate	44.2(±10.44)	43.0	43.1(±16.64)	44.0	0.928
1 to 4 years	63.3(±14.81)	63.0	63.3(±15.59)	66.0	0.827
5 to 9 years	79.16(±9.47)	79.5	74.5(±11.85)	77.5	0.288
10 or more years	84.5(±10.14)	88.0	84.7(±8.81)	82.0	0.965
Gender
Female	63.2(±17.73)	62.0	60.1(±18.73)	61.0	0.325
Male	70.3(±14.97)	72.0	64.2(±18.73)	69.5	0.135
Age
60-69	66.9(±16.93)	68.0	65.8(±17.84)	70.0	0.132
70-79	64.1(±17.25)	62.0	57.4(±17.43)	58.5	0.215
80 or more	52.2(±16.11)	51.5	52.1(±23.58)	59.0	0.137

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Universidade de São Paulo, Escola de Enfermagem Av. Dr. Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar, 419 , 05403-000 São Paulo - SP/ Brasil, Tel./Fax: (55 11) 3061-7553, - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: reeusp@usp.br

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[TFN1] ^*
Median family income in minimum wages (minimum wage referring to the year 2014).

[TFN2] ^**
Median education level in years of studying.

Comparison of the cognitive performance of elderly caregivers with and without chronic pain*

Comparación del desempeño cognitivo de ancianos cuidadores con y sin dolor crónico

Abstract

Comparison of the cognitive performance of elderly caregivers with and without chronic pain^{^*}