In this research study, after analyzing the records of 354,943 people in the UK Biobank cohort, the researchers found that the risk of neurocognitive abnormality increased with each extra pain site and was mediated by atrophy in the hippocampus, the part of the brain accountable for memory.
Elevated dementia danger, cognitive decline, and hippocampal atrophy in multisite persistent discomfort. Credit: Tu Yiheng
Given that hippocampal volume reduces with age, the scientists related the magnitude of the result of hippocampal atrophy in patients with multisite persistent discomfort to the result of aging in healthy individuals with a typical age of 60.
” Multisite persistent discomfort might cause approximately eight years of sped up hippocampal aging, an effect that might underlie a series of cognitive burdens,” said Dr. Tu, matching author of the study.
The study supplies a quantitative understanding of the impact of persistent discomfort on cognitive function and the risk of dementia, laying an important foundation for future research into the relationship in between chronic pain and cognitive impairment.
It likewise highlights the excessive concern of multisite persistent pain on patients cognition and the brain, and the need to deal with the overlapping nature of pain conditions in both standard research study and medical research studies.
Reference: “Elevated dementia risk, cognitive decline, and hippocampal atrophy in multisite chronic pain” by Wenhui Zhao, Lei Zhao, Xiangyu Chang, Xuejing Lu and Yiheng Tu, 21 February 2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.DOI: 10.1073/ pnas.2215192120.
The research study was funded by the STI2030-Major Projects Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Scientific Foundation of the Institute of Psychology of CAS, among other sources.
Dementia is a progressive brain disorder that impacts a persons memory, thinking, behavior, and ability to carry out day-to-day activities. It is commonly associated with aging but can take place in individuals as young as 40 years old. The precise causes of dementia are not yet completely comprehended, but it is believed to result from a combination of genetic, ecological, and way of life elements.
Dementia is a progressive brain disorder that impacts an individuals memory, believing, behavior, and ability to carry out everyday activities. It is frequently related to aging but can occur in individuals as young as 40 years old. The precise reasons for dementia are not yet fully understood, but it is thought to arise from a mix of genetic, environmental, and way of life aspects.
A study conducted by a group led by Dr. Tu Yiheng from the Institute of Psychology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has exposed that people experiencing persistent discomfort in multiple areas of their body have actually an increased danger of developing dementia and experience a wider and quicker decline in cognitive functions such as memory, executive function, learning, and attention.
The study was just recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Almost half of chronic pain patients experience multisite chronic discomfort, where they feel discomfort in multiple parts of their body, which considerably affects their overall health. It was formerly unclear whether individuals with multisite chronic pain experience intensified neurocognitive problems.
