Influence of physical and psychological function and pain on social, cognitive, and mental aspects of vital function

Abstract

The Kihon Checklist is widely used as a screening tool to assess frailty in the elderly. The purpose of this study was to clarify the factors that influence social, cognitive, and mental scores of the Kihon Checklist. A total of 225 community-dwelling elderly women were divided into the frail risk group (n=103) and the non-frail group (n=122) according to the Kihon Checklist score. In comparison with the non-frail group, there were more subjects with pain and greater number of pain areas in the frail risk group. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the number of pain areas was significantly associated with the social, cognitive, and mental scores of the Kihon Checklist. This study provides new insights into factors of pain that affect the cognitive and mental scores of the Kihon Checklist in community-dwelling elderly women.