Acute and chronic pain in geriatrics: clinical characteristics of pain and the influence of cognition.

Objective: This study aimed to identify which of the well-known characteristics of chronic pain patients are seen even in older patients with multiple comorbidities and considerable functional impairments and how cognition influences patients' reports of acute and chronic pain.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Setting: Inpatients of acute and rehabilitation wards of a German geriatric hospital.