**3. Prevalence of pain in older persons**

The prevalence of pain in the older persons varies, pain is prevalent in older persons and this increases with age [9, 31, 32]. The knowledge of the prevalence of pain in the oldest old is scarce [33]. Several studies have been conducted on pain in older persons. Many reports suggest that the incidence of pain in senior citizens is about 50% in older adults living in the community and about 80% in older persons who are resident in nursing homes [17, 21, 25]. The pain is of significant intensity in 19% of older persons.

#### **4. Types of pain**

Pain can be classified as acute or chronic pain depending on its duration. It can also be classified depending on the cause of the pain if it is nociceptive pain that is visceral or somatic origin or neuropathic pain. The prevalence of acute pain in the elderly does not change with aging while that of chronic pain increases with aging [29]. Acute pain is usually a symptom of an illness or injury while chronic pain may be a pointer to specific health problems, as the factors leading to chronic pain may not be identified or eradicated all the time [29].

Chronic pain is now also known as recurrent or persistent pain. Chronic pain occurs for a prolong period of time usually more than three months [21] which may or may not be associated with a well-defined disease process [34], and it is an important health problem in the elderly [24, 34, 35]. Chronic pain is prevalent in the elderly [36, 37]. The clinical manifestations of persistent pain the older persons are often complex and multifactorial [26].

Acute pain can be defined as pain that is of distinct onset, there is an obvious cause and also of a short duration, it indicates acute injury or disease [21]. Persistent pain is common among residents of nursing homes.

#### **5. Causes of pain in older persons**

There are several causes of pain in older persons.

1.Pain in the lower extremities for instance can be caused by osteoarthritis which could lead to falls [10, 21, 38]. Osteoarthritis is one of the commonest causes

of joint pain and disability in the elderly hence the goal of its treatment is to reduce its symptoms and prevent disability [21].

