Turkish Journal of Geriatrics 2021 , Vol 24, Issue 1
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHRONIC MUSCULOSKELETAL PAIN, QUALITY OF LIFE AND SARCOPENIA
Fulya BAKILAN1, Merih ÖZGEN2, Burcu ORTANCA1, Ayse EKİM1, Onur ARMAĞAN2, Funda TAŞÇIOĞLU BERKAN2, Fezan ŞAHİN MUTLU3
1Eskisehir City Hospital, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, EskiÅŸehir, Turkey
2Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, EskiÅŸehir, Turkey
3Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Department of Biostatistics, EskiÅŸehir, Turkey
DOI : 10.31086/tjgeri.2021.200 Introduction: Musculoskeletal-pain and sarcopenia are common in elderly and negatively affect living. The objectives were:1-to evaluate the rate of sarcopenia and sarcopenia-related factors according to the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older-People-2-2019 algorithm, 2-to compare the rate of probable sarcopenia, sarcopenia parameters and quality of life according to both presence or absence of chronic musculoskeletal-pain and whether the pain is regional or generalized.

Materials and Method: A total of 249-patients were enrolled in this study. The variables: the demographic data, sarcopenia parameters (SARC-F-questionnaire, hand-grip strength, chair-stand test, gait speed), visual analogue scale-pain and quality of life (short-form-36). The patients were divided into two-groups according to presence and absence of chronic musculoskeletal- pain and the chronic pain was divided into three-groups: according to being generalized or regional (one and more than one-site).

Results: Probable sarcopenia was found in 21.6% of all patients, while 73.4% had chronic musculoskeletal-pain. The patients with chronic pain (28.4%) had a higher-rate of sarcopenia than patients without pain (3%)(p<0.001), and all the sarcopenia and quality of life parameters were statistically worse. The rate of sarcopenia, social-function, gait-speed, chair-stand test were found similar in three pain groups, visual analog scale-pain(p=0.001), the most of quality of life-parameters, SARC-F-score(p<0.001) and grip-strength(p=0.009) were significantly better in regional pain in one-site.

Conclusion: Female gender, age, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypertension were associated with sarcopenia. The rate of sarcopenia was found higher, the sarcopenia and quality of life parameters were worse in patients with musculoskeletal-pain. Although grip-strength and SARC-F-score were better in regional pain in one-site, the rate of sarcopenia was similar in pain groups according to being regional or generalized, and quality of life was worse in generalized pain. Keywords : Chronic Pain; Sarcopenia; Quality of Life