The International Federation on Aging, a non-governmental organisation focused on policy issues relevant to older people, has launched a policy paper on access to pain treatment for older adults in the European Union. Based on a survey of over 1,800 respondents from France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Sweden and Italy, the paper draws attention to various barriers impacting the pain management options available to older people in Europe, as well as wider issues of stigma and lack of a political voice to highlight their needs.
The European Pain Federation EFIC welcome the report and propose the following areas of further study:
- We need to understand the motivations behind patient preferences in pain management, especially in more vulnerable people, like older adults. We need to understand what is important to them, including considerations like access to care and (non-)pharmacological therapies.
- We need to understand in more depth how an independent life is enabled with pain medicines and the various barriers towards an independent life that older people living in pain experience.