Eur J Pain. 2021 Jul 3. doi: 10.1002/ejp.1835. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
This journal recently published a paper by Rong et al., entitled “Persistent moderate to severe pain and long-term cognitive decline.” (Rong et al., 2021). The authors demonstrate that, to a small but statistically significant degree, older adults with persistent moderate-to-severe pain (an approximation for chronic pain) experience a faster rate of late-life cognitive decline than older adults without pain. Given these findings, should clinicians be alert for accelerated cognitive decline in older adults with chronic pain? Rong and colleagues argue yes. But, interestingly, using the same data source, an earlier study by Veronese and colleagues concluded that there was no evidence for an effect (Veronese et al., 2018). What are we to make of this?
PMID:34216525 | DOI:10.1002/ejp.1835
