Nociceptive stress interferes with neural processing of cognitive stimuli in Gulf War Veterans with chronic musculoskeletal pain.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

Disrupted cognition and chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) are prevalent experiences among Gulf War Veterans (GWV). A negative association between CMP and cognition (i.e., chronic pain-related cognitive interference) has been observed in some chronic pain populations but has not been evaluated in GWV. Additional research suggests that disrupted cognition in GWV with CMP may be exacerbated by stressing the nociceptive system. Therefore, we compared cognitive performance and related neural activity between CMP and healthy control (CO) GWV in the absence and presence of experimental pain.

Main methods

During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), Veterans (CMP = 29; CO = 27) completed cognitive testing via congruent and incongruent conditions of a modified Stroop ta

SUBMITTER: Lindheimer JB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8243383 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature