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?
| Eggermont, Laura H P; Bean, Jonathan F; Guralnik, Jack M et al. (2009) Comparing pain severity versus pain location in the MOBILIZE Boston study: chronic pain and lower extremity function. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 64:763-70 |
| Leveille, Suzanne G; Jones, Richard N; Kiely, Dan K et al. (2009) Chronic musculoskeletal pain and the occurrence of falls in an older population. JAMA 302:2214-21 |
