Pain intensity, depressive symptoms, and functional limitations among older adults with serious mental illness

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OBJECTIVE: To examine pain-related activity interference as a mediator for the relationship between pain intensity and depressive symptoms among older adults with serious mental illness (SMI). METHOD: Ordinary least-squares regressions were used to investigate the mediation analysis among older adults with SMI (n = 183) from community mental health centers. Analyses used secondary data from the HOPES intervention study. RESULTS: Higher pain intensity was associated with greater pain-related activity interference. Higher pain intensity and pain-related activity interference were also associated with elevated depressive symptoms. Finally, greater pain-related activity interference significantly mediated the association between higher pain intensity and elevated depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that pain and depressive symptoms may be linked to functional limitations. Clinicians and researchers in the mental health field should better address pain-related activity interference among older adults with SMI, especially among those with higher pain intensity and elevated depressive symptoms.