Practitioner Research Network Seminar - Factors associated with musculoskeletal pain in the last year of life

'Factors associated with musculoskeletal pain in the last year of life: Results of a literature review and findings from a prospective cohort study.'
Dr Kate Lillie, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Keele University

• Seminar flyer (PDF)    
• Directions to seminar room (PDF)

Agenda

12.30pm - Lunch

1pm - Factors associated with musculoskeletal pain in the last year of life: Results of a literature review and findings from a prospective cohort study - Dr Kate Lillie, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Keele University

Musculoskeletal pain is the most common cause of pain in the elderly (Thomas 2010). Despite this little attention has been paid to the impact of musculoskeletal disease at the end of life. Most causes of musculoskeletal pain are on-going chronic conditions, like osteoarthritis that can appear relatively trivial compared to the issues associated with the advancing incurable diseases that are commonly the focus of most palliative care practice, education and research. However, the first epidemiological study of pain in the elderly during the final two years of life, found that the presence of arthritis was more strongly associated with the presence of pain at the end of life than the cause of death (Smith et al 2010). A longitudinal cohort study of the elderly found that musculoskeletal pain was the second most common symptom (after fatigue) in the last months of life (Chaudhry et al 2013).

Following a brief review of the literature, this presentation will discuss a study that examined the factors associated with clinically significant musculoskeletal pain in community dwelling older adults during the last year of life. Data from an established prospective cohort study in North Staffordshire was used. Results suggest that the factors associated with this pain are similar to those associated with musculoskeletal pain throughout the life course, tentatively suggesting that a modified, holistic, palliative approach might be effective with this client group.

After presentation - time for discussion and networking until 2.30pm.