The Impact Of Pain And Other Symptoms On Physical Functi

残疾老年人通常患有一种或多种慢性疾病。除了随着时间的推移而使人衰弱的慢性病理外，日常症状的经历也会给慢性病患者带来持久的负担。疼痛和虚弱等症状与先前存在的耐力或肌肉力量下降等损伤相结合，可导致日常活动的残疾。然而，很少有研究检查症状对老年人日常功能和其他健康结果的影响。这项研究的目的是调查疼痛和其他慢性疾病症状对老年残疾妇女日常生活的影响，使用的数据来自妇女健康和老龄化研究，这是一项关于老年妇女残疾原因和过程的前瞻性队列研究。本研究要解决的具体问题包括：(1)老年妇女报告的导致其残疾的主要症状是什么？(2)与症状相关的残疾归因如何随困难程度和残疾领域而变化？(3)哪些因素介导症状报告与残疾之间的关系？(4)哪些常见的慢性疾病与报告的主要致残症状相关？(5)肌肉骨骼疼痛是否会增加跌倒和其他健康问题的风险？(6)使用镇痛药物是否能降低患有慢性肌肉骨骼疼痛的老年妇女不良预后的可能性？

Older persons with disabilities typically live with one or more chronic conditions. In addition to chronic pathology that can be debilitating over time, the daily symptom experience can create an enduring burden in chronically ill persons. The convergence of symptoms such as pain and weakness, with pre-existing impairments such as reduced endurance or muscle strength, can result in disability in the performance of daily activities. However, little research has examined the effects of symptoms on daily functioning and other health outcomes in older persons. The goal of the research is to investigate the impact of pain and other symptoms of chronic diseases on the daily lives of older disabled women using data from the Women's Health and Aging Study, a prospective cohort study of the causes and course of disability in older women. Specific questions to be addressed in this research include: (1) What do older women report as the major symptoms contributing to their disability? (2) How does disability attribution related to symptoms vary with level of difficulty and domains of disability? (3) What factors mediate the relationship between symptom reporting and disability? (4) What prevalent chronic diseases are associated with symptoms reported as the main cause of disability? (5) Does musculoskeletal pain increase the risk for falls and other health outcomes? (6) Does use of analgesic medications reduce the likelihood of poor outcomes in older women who have chronic musculoskeletal pain?