The association of pain, race and slow gait speed in older adults.
Janiece L Taylor, Lauren J Parker, Sarah L Szanton and 1 others
PMID 29752144WHAT IT FOUND
Pain was not more strongly tied to slow gait in African American older adults than in non-Hispanic White older adults, though bothersome pain was associated with slower walking.
Key findings
01Older adults bothered by pain in the past month had 1.38 times the odds of slow gait speed (95% CI 1.11–1.73) after adjustment for age, education, sex, race, dementia status and comorbidities.
02The association between pain and slow gait speed did not differ by race (interaction P = 0.60).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The design was cross-sectional, so it cannot show whether pain came before slow gait speed, slow gait speed came before pain, or whether either caused the other. Pain was measured only as a yes/no report of being bothered by pain in the last month. The study did not measure pain type, length of time living with pain, or pain medications. No pain-management intervention was tested, so the study cannot show that treating pain improves gait speed. The sample was mostly non-Hispanic White (90.9%, n = 6,386) with only 639 Black participants, so the null racial interaction does not prove there is no difference. The analysis adjusted for several factors, but unmeasured issues such as pain medications and type of pain may still affect the association.
Declared interests
The authors reported no conflicts of interest. The paper is listed as supported by extramural National Institutes of Health funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that treating pain will improve gait speed. The study was cross-sectional and observed an association, not a trial of pain treatment.