Pain may accelerate aging by 30 years

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Younger people with persistent pain look similar to people who are two to three decades older without chronic pain, U.S. researchers say.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society, says the abilities of those ages 50-59 with pain were far more comparable to subjects ages 80-89 without pain and they appear 20 to 30 years older than non-pain sufferers.

Dr. Kenneth Covinsky of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues examined data from 18,531 participants, age 50 and older, who took part in the 2004 Health and Retirement Study.

The four physical abilities considered were: mobility, or walking or jogging; stair climbing; upper extremity tasks and activity of daily living such as bathing, dressing, eating, with or without help.

Twenty-four percent of participants had significant pain and across all four physical abilities looked at, participants with pain had much higher rates of functional limitations than subjects without pain.

Thirty-seven percent of study subjects ages 50-59 without pain were able to jog a mile and 91 percent were able to walk several blocks without difficulty, compared to only 9 percent and 50 percent respectively in those with pain.