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Drug Therapy for the Elderly pp 161–178Cite as

Therapy of Chronic Pain

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Abstract

Chronic pain is very frequent in the elderly, and the prevalence rate increases with advancing age. The main reason for this rise is an increasing incidence of musculoskeletal disorders, such as osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. Up to 70% of persons aged 70+ years complain about chronic pain (Brattberg et al. 1996). However, exact data depend on the assessment method, and prevalence rates in institutional care and specialized hospital departments may even exceed this value. If pain is recorded, one should distinguish between acute and chronic pain. Both variants are frequently found in the elderly (Ferrell et al. 1990). Chronic pain is of special interest in the context of pharmacotherapy as this condition almost always requires long-term drug treatment. Therefore, this chapter mainly refers to chronic pain. To define chronic pain and distinguish it from acute pain is somewhat arbitrary, and exact and consented criteria are lacking. A common definition describes chronic pain as pain lasting for at least 3 months (Charette and Ferrell 2007). However, this time frame may seem excessive and is thus a matter of dispute.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IVth Department of Medicine, Geriatrics, University Medical Centre Mannheim, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, Mannheim, 68167, Germany

    Heinrich Burkhardt

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  1. Heinrich Burkhardt
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Correspondence to Heinrich Burkhardt .

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  1. Inst. Klinische Pharmakologie, Klinikum Stadt Mannheim gGmbH, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, Mannheim, 68167, Germany

    Martin Wehling

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Burkhardt, H. (2013). Therapy of Chronic Pain. In: Wehling, M. (eds) Drug Therapy for the Elderly. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-0912-0_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-0912-0_14

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-7091-0911-3

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