Chronic pain links to cognitive deficits and advanced cognitive age
A meta-analysis linked chronic pain to cognitive deficits (g = -0.48), while a 37,139-person cohort tied severe pain to an advanced cognitive age pattern.
Pain
In human participants, chronic pain is associated with small to moderate cognitive deficits and signs of advanced cognitive age. Researchers first conducted a meta-analysis of 67 studies including 6,899 chronic pain patients and controls. Chronic pain sufferers showed moderate cognitive difficulties across cognitive domains and pain diagnoses (g = -0.48). These impairments were proportional to pain severity and psychological symptoms. Next, the researchers analyzed data from 37,139 UK Biobank participants using a predictive model of cognitive age. Deficits replicated across pain conditions, with effect sizes ranging from d = 0.04 to 0.30. Notably, participants with four or more pain sites displayed an advanced cognitive age pattern.
Why it matters
The findings suggest that persistent, uncontrollable pain may drive stress-related cognitive aging. This connects chronic physical conditions directly to measurable functional decline in cognitive systems.
Caveats
The observed cognitive deficits were only small to moderate in severity. In addition, the cross-sectional design prevents causal conclusions, and the meta-analysis showed high heterogeneity between studies (I2 = 82.03).
The paper
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Eugene Borokhovski, Isabelle Plante, Mary‐Ann Fitzcharles, Étienne Vachon‐Presseau,McGill University
Pain · 24 Sep 2026