ArticleJournal of the American Geriatrics Society2024
Pain management inequities by demographic and geriatric-related variables in older adult inpatients.
Article in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Tracing the Satisfactory Care of the Chronically Ill in Emergency Departments: A Scoping Review.Scandinavian journal of caring sciences · 2026Article
- Disparities associated with race and ethnicity in pain management: a scoping review.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2026Article
- The impact of social support on pain intensity in older adults with chronic pain: the serial mediating roles of positive and negative affect and pain catastrophizing.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Unmet health-related social needs are associated with pain outcomes among midlife and older adults.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- A roadmap for artificial intelligence in pain medicine: current status, opportunities, and requirements.Current opinion in anaesthesiology · 2025Review
- Ageism in a health-related context: the physiological, psychological, and behavioral impacts of subtle age discrimination on older adults.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Patient Safety Event Risk and Language Barriers: A Scoping Review.Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety · 2025Article
- Disparities in Postoperative Pain Management: A Scoping Review of Prescription Practices and Social Determinants of Health.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Age and gender disparities in administration of opioid for cardiac chest pain in the emergency department.PloS one · 2025Observational
- Editorial: Pain in the older adult patient.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPain is ubiquitous, yet understudied. The objective of this study was to analyze inequities in pain assessment and management for hospitalized older adults focusing on demographic and geriatric-related variables.
methodsThis was a retrospective cohort study from January 2013 through September 2021 of all adults 65 years or older on the general medicine service at UCSF Medical Center. Primary exposures included (1) demographic variables including race/ethnicity and limited English proficiency (LEP) status and (2) geriatric-related variables including age, dementia or mild cognitive impairment diagnosis, hearing or visual impairment, end-of-life care, and geriatrics consult involvement. Primary outcomes included (1) adjusted odds of numeric pain assessment versus other assessments and (2) adjusted opioids administered, measured by morphine milligram equivalents (MME).
resultsA total of 15,809 patients were included across 27,857 hospitalizations with 1,378,215 pain assessments, with a mean age of 77.8 years old. Patients were 47.4% White, 26.3% with LEP, 49.6% male, and 50.4% female. Asian (OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.70-0.80), Latinx (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.83-0.99), and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.64-0.93) patients had lower odds of a numeric assessment, compared with White patients. Patients with LEP (OR 0.70, 95% CI 0.66-0.74) had lower odds of a numeric assessment, compared with English-speaking patients. Patients with dementia, hearing impairment, patients 75+, and at end-of-life were all less likely to receive a numeric assessment. Compared with White patients (86 MME, 95% CI 77-96), Asian patients (55 MME, 95% CI 46-65) received fewer opioids. Patients with LEP, dementia, hearing impairment and those 75+ years old also received significantly fewer opioids.
conclusionOlder, hospitalized, general medicine patients from minoritized groups and with geriatric-related conditions are uniquely vulnerable to inequitable pain assessment and management. These findings raise concerns for pain underassessment and undertreatment.
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