Chronic pain across the ages

This article explores the occurrence, expression, and impact of chronic pain across the

human lifespan. While pain, both acute and chronic (defined as >3 months duration)

occurs more commonly as we age, chronic painful syndromes are not unique to just

the older adult but can occur in the pediatric and adolescent population. Additionally,

there may be physiologic factors and other considerations in a given age group and

population which may impact the expression of pain and subsequently the management

of chronic pain in that group although this article will not focus on pain treatment

in a given group. This article begins with a discussion of chronic pain in adulthood,

reviewing in sequence chronic pain in pediatrics/adolescents, the obstetric population,

and then geriatrics (>65) with a review of common painful conditions unique to an age

group/population and those physiologic factors which must be considered for each

population.