Technology-Enabled Pain Recognition and Functional Monitoring in Older Adults

Chronic pain is a major burden for many older adults, with direct effects on quality of life, mobility, sleep, mood, and independence. Yet pain in later life can be hard to recognize and measure, especially when symptoms fluctuate across settings (home, clinic, hospital), or when reporting is complicated by frailty, multimorbidity, or limited communication due to cognitive impairment from dementia, delirium, traumatic brain injury, aphasia, or conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. Traditional pain management approaches rely heavily on medications, which confer increased health risks in older populations, including adverse drug effects and interactions in the context of multimorbidity and polypharmacy. This Research Topic explores the potential of technology-enabled pain recognition and functional monitoring to make pain more visible, measurable, and actionable across real-world settings, supporting earlier identification of worsening pain, better tailoring of non-pharmacological and pharmacological care, and improved outcomes for older adults and their caregivers.This Research Topic focuses on how we detect, quantify, and track pain and pain-related functional impact in older adults across real-world settings: from home to clinic to hospital, using digital biomarkers (wearables/phones), smart-home/ambient sensing, and caregiver-enabled assessment. We are particularly interested in populations where pain recognition is especially challenging, including those with frailty, cognitive impairment, or limited ability to self-report, but welcome submissions across the broader older adult population.We welcome work that addresses key challenges such as: linking sensed function to pain experience (and distinguishing pain from frailty, depression, or disease flare), validating digital measures against clinical anchors and patient-centered outcomes, building inclusive tools that work for diverse older populations, and designing workflows that clinicians and caregivers can realistically use. Submissions may span foundational measurement science, algorithm development, clinical validation, implementation studies, and pragmatic evaluations of technology in routine care. Cross-setting studies are encouraged, including transitions of care, where pain recognition failures often lead to avoidable suffering and functional decline.We invite Original Research, Brief Research Reports, Methods articles, Reviews/Mini-Reviews, Perspectives/Opinions, Systematic Reviews, and Meta-analyses that advance technology-enabled assessment and monitoring of geriatric pain and function, aligned with the Geriatric Pain section. Interdisciplinary submissions bridging pain science, geriatrics, rehabilitation, nursing, engineering, and digital health are welcome.Key themes include:- Digital pain assessment and phenotyping (passive sensing; activity/sleep/mobility markers; validation studies)- Pain assessment in older adults with frailty, dementia, or communication challenges, using observational tools and technology augmentation- Caregiver-facing technologies (apps, decision support, training, reporting workflows)- Smart homes/Ambient Assisted Living to detect change and support aging in place- Multimodal approaches combining caregiver report + wearables + ambient sensing + facial/voice cues, including AI-enabled pain detection toolsConflict of Interest Statement:Topic Editor Dr. Syed Mustafa Ali is the founder of Pacentrica Health Ltd. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject. Topic editors: Veerawat Phongtankuel, Syed Mustafa Ali Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82562/technology-enabled-pain-recognition-and-functional-monitoring-in-older-adults