Greater starting pain linked to faster cognitive decline
Greater starting pain was linked to faster cognitive decline after adjustment, with a standardized coefficient—a measure of the link’s strength—of −0.104.
Our read
Populations- Studied:
- Cohort study of 19,376 adults in England, more than 20 years
- What changed:
- Greater starting pain was linked to faster decline in thinking skills
- The catch:
- Pain severity relied on participants' own reports
- In the record:
- The 21st paper on chronic pain with results in people; 27 on record in all. Its result on cognitive function agrees with 1 of 3 other findings on record; 2 found no change.
- Why it’s aging research:
- It measures an outcome that worsens with age.
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In an observational cohort study, researchers analyzed 19,376 adults in England who were over 40 in 2002. Their average age then was 58.84, and 53% were female. The analysis covered 11 rounds of data collection over more than 20 years. Participants rated pain from none to severe and completed tests involving word recall, naming animals and quickly finding letters.
Greater starting pain severity was linked to steeper decline in a combined measure of thinking skills, even after accounting for age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and other chronic conditions. Worsening pain was linked to faster decline when researchers accounted for age and sex alone. That association was no longer statistically significant after the additional adjustments.
Why it matters
The study addressed whether changes in pain severity track changes in thinking skills as people age, rather than relying on a single pain measurement.
Caveats
This observational study cannot show that pain caused cognitive decline, and participants reported their own pain. The findings concern adults in England who were over 40 in 2002, not younger adults.
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