Association Between Persistent Pain and Memory Decline and Dementia in a Longitudinal Cohort of Elders.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Chronic pain is common among the elderly and is associated with cognitive deficits in cross-sectional studies; the population-level association between chronic pain and longitudinal cognition is unknown.

Objective

To determine the population-level association between persistent pain, which may reflect chronic pain, and subsequent cognitive decline.

Design, setting, and participants

Cohort study with biennial interviews of 10 065 community-dwelling older adults in the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study who were 62 years or older in 2000 and answered pain and cognition questions in both 1998 and 2000. Data analysis was conducted between June 24 and October 31, 2016.

Exposures

"Persistent pain," defined as a participant reporting that

SUBMITTER: Whitlock EL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5588896 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature