Relationship between biomarkers and musculoskeletal pain and falls in older adults – A cross-sectional analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging data

Musculoskeletal pain, risk for falls and the presence of inflammatory biomarkers in older adults have been identified as potential measures for functional decline, including frailty, quality of pain and severity of disability. There has been an increasing number of studies aiming to evaluate the relationship of biomarkers with both musculoskeletal pain and falls and the inter-relationship between the two. However, most studies have focused on smaller ‘pieces of the puzzle’ such as inflammatory biomarkers or measures of body composition alone. The proposed study will use the dataset of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) to evaluate multiple biomarkers associated with musculoskeletal pain and falls, while controlling for known psychosocial factors (e.g., age, depression). The purpose of this study is to observe the associations and interrelationships between biomarkers with musculoskeletal pain and falls in older adults.