@article {1401, title = {Persistence and remission of musculoskeletal pain in community-dwelling older adults: results from the cardiovascular health study.}, journal = {J Am Geriatr Soc}, volume = {60}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Aug}, pages = {1393-400}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVES: To characterize longitudinal patterns of musculoskeletal pain in a community sample of older adults over a 6-year period and to identify factors associated with persistence of pain.

DESIGN: Secondary analysis of the Cardiovascular Health Study.

SETTING: Community-based cohort drawn from four U.S. counties.

PARTICIPANTS: Five thousand ninety-three men and women aged 65 and older.

MEASUREMENTS: Over a 6-year period, pain was assessed each year using a single question about the presence of pain in any bones or joints during the last year. If affirmative, participants were queried about pain in seven locations (hands, shoulders, neck, back, hips, knees, feet). Participants were categorized according to the percentage of time that pain was present and according to the intermittent or chronic pattern of pain. Factors associated with persistent pain during five remaining years of the study were identified.

RESULTS: Over 6 years, 32\% of participants reported pain for three or more consecutive years, and 32\% reported pain intermittently. Of those who reported pain the first year, 54\% were pain free at least once during the follow-up period. Most of the pain at specific body locations was intermittent. Factors associated with remission of pain over 5 years included older age, male sex, better self-rated health, not being obese, taking fewer medications, and having fewer depressive symptoms. Approximately half of those with pain reported fewer pain locations the following year.

CONCLUSION: Musculoskeletal pain in older adults, despite high prevalence, is often intermittent. The findings refute the notion that pain is an inevitable, unremitting, or progressive consequence of aging.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cardiovascular Diseases, Female, Humans, Male, Musculoskeletal Pain, Remission Induction, Residence Characteristics}, issn = {1532-5415}, doi = {10.1111/j.1532-5415.2012.04082.x}, author = {Thielke, Stephen M and Whitson, Heather and Diehr, Paula and O{\textquoteright}Hare, Ann and Kearney, Patricia M and Chaudhry, Sarwat I and Zakai, Neil A and Kim, Dae and Sekaran, Nishant and Sale, Joanna E M and Arnold, Alice M and Chaves, Paulo and Newman, Anne} } @article {6240, title = {Racial and regional differences in venous thromboembolism in the United States in 3 cohorts.}, journal = {Circulation}, volume = {129}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Apr 08}, pages = {1502-9}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Blacks are thought to have a higher risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) than whites. However, prior studies are limited to administrative databases that lack specific information on VTE risk factors or have limited geographic scope.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We ascertained VTE from 3 prospective studies: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (ARIC), the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS), and the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study (REGARDS). We tested the association of race with VTE using Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for VTE risk factors. Over 438 090 person-years, 916 incident VTE events (302 in blacks) occurred in 51 149 individuals (17 318 blacks) who were followed up. In risk factor-adjusted models, blacks had a higher rate of VTE than whites in the CHS (hazard ratio, 1.81; 95\% confidence interval, 1.20-2.73) but not ARIC (hazard ratio, 1.21; 95\% confidence interval, 0.96-1.54). In REGARDS, there was a significant region-by-race interaction (P=0.01): Blacks in the Southeast had a significantly higher rate of VTE than blacks in the rest of the United States (hazard ratio, 1.63; 95\% confidence interval, 1.08-2.48) that was not seen in whites (hazard ratio, 0.83; 95\% confidence interval, 0.61-1.14).

CONCLUSIONS: The association of race with VTE differed in each cohort, which may reflect the different time periods of the studies or different regional rates of VTE. Further studies of environmental and genetic risk factors for VTE are needed to determine which underlie racial and perhaps regional differences in VTE.

}, keywords = {African Continental Ancestry Group, Aged, Cohort Studies, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Prevalence, Proportional Hazards Models, Prospective Studies, Residence Characteristics, Risk Factors, United States, Venous Thromboembolism}, issn = {1524-4539}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.006472}, author = {Zakai, Neil A and McClure, Leslie A and Judd, Suzanne E and Safford, Monika M and Folsom, Aaron R and Lutsey, Pamela L and Cushman, Mary} }