Chronic rheumatologic symptoms in a tri-ethnic sample of men and women aged 75 and older

Background. The high prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in elderly pers ons tends to obscure the recognition of specific medical conditions. The pu rpose of this study is to describe the prevalence of chronic rheumatologic symptoms and the associated measures of health status in an older populatio n. Methods. This is a cross-sectional study of 507 noninstitutionalized tri-et hnic men and women a.-ed 75 and older living in Galveston County, Texas. A home interview collected data on demographics, chronic medical conditions, cognition, depression, and functional status. Site, severity, and duration of rheumatologic symptoms such as morning stiffness, body tenderness, and b ody aching in the past month were also collected. Results. There was a high prevalence of nonspecific rheumatologic symptoms such as morning stiffness (32% in the shoulder girdle, 31% in the hip girdl e), tenderness to touch (9%), and generalized body aching (11%) in the stud y population. Twenty-one percent of the subjects reported either bilateral shoulder or hip girdle stiffness or tenderness lasting more than 30 minutes almost every day or every day or generalized body aching most of the time during the past month. Age-, gender-, and ethnicity-adjusted multivariate a nalyses showed that more than three self-reported chronic medical condition s, poor or fair self-reported health, impairment in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and the presence of depressive or anxiety symptoms were associated with the presence of these chronic rheumatologic, symptoms . Conclusion. Chronic rheumatologic. symptoms are common in people aged 75 an d older. Such symptoms are markers for underlying poor health and for anxie ty and depression among older subjects.