Prevalence and characteristics of chronic Pain in the Chinese community-dwelling elderly: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Chronic pain adversely affects health and daily life in the elderly. Gaining insight into chronic pain that affects the community-dwelling elderly is crucial for pain management in China, which possesses the largest elderly population in the world. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional design study that followed the STROBE Guideline. A randomized cluster sampling method was used to recruit participants in the Sichuan Province from Dec 2018 to May 2019. In addition, face-to-face interviews were conducted to collect socio-demographic data, characteristics and health-seeking behaviors of chronic pain through a self-designed questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 1381 older adults participated in this study. Among these participants, 791 (57.3%) had chronic pain. Here, prevalence and pain intensity were both found to increase from the 60–69 group to the 70–79 group, which then decreased in the ≥80 group with no significant differences in sex (p > 0.05). The most common pain locations were observed in the legs/feet (53.5%), head (23.6) and abdomen/pelvis (21.1%). Among the elderly suffering from chronic pain, 29.4% sought medical help, 59.2% received medication and 59.7% adopted non-drug therapy. CONCLUSION: Chronic pain is a common health concern in the Chinese community-dwelling elderly, which possesses different characteristics than other countries’ populations. Therefore, easier access to medication assistance and provision of scientific guidance for non-drug therapy may serve as satisfactory approaches in improving pain management. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-021-02432-2.