Chronic musculoskeletal pain and its relationship with cognitive function in older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

IF 2.7 3区医学 Q2 ANESTHESIOLOGY

Pain Practice Pub Date : 2025-06-01 DOI:10.1111/papr.70025

Júlia Guimaraes Reis da Costa, José Emanuel Alves, Ellen C Hirose Pereira Nery, Anabela G Silva

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Abstract

Background: The relationship between chronic musculoskeletal pain and cognitive function in older adults remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate whether the cognitive function of older adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain differs from asymptomatic older adults.

Methods: Four databases (PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Science, and Scopus) were searched. Two researchers independently reviewed the references against the eligibility criteria and performed the quality assessment of included studies using The National Institutes of Health (NIH) - Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies.

Results: A total of 8484 references were found and ten articles, published between 2006 and 2021, were included. Only one study was classified as being of good quality, the remaining were of fair quality. Independent meta-analysis were performed for global cognition and specific cognitive domains (language, attention/orientation, executive function, memory, processing speed, and visuospatial skills). Differences between older adults with and without chronic musculoskeletal pain were found for the domains of general cognition (k = 10; d = -0.20; 95% CI = -0.38, -0.03; z = -2.25, p = 0.03) and language (k = 8; d = -0.16; 95% CI = -0.28, -0.05; z = -2.72, p = 0.006), with very low certainty of evidence.

Conclusion: Overall, and considering the very low certainty of evidence for both global cognition and specific cognitive domains, we are uncertain about whether cognitive function differs between older adults with and without chronic musculoskeletal pain. Further research is needed comparing cognitive performance between older adults with and without chronic musculoskeletal pain, on the long-term impact of pain on cognitive functioning, and on the mechanisms underlying this potential relationship.

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老年人慢性肌肉骨骼疼痛及其与认知功能的关系：系统回顾和荟萃分析。

背景：老年人慢性肌肉骨骼疼痛与认知功能之间的关系尚不清楚。本研究旨在探讨老年人慢性肌肉骨骼疼痛的认知功能是否与无症状老年人不同。方法：检索PubMed、Science Direct、Web of Science、Scopus 4个数据库。两名研究人员根据入选标准独立审查了参考文献，并使用美国国立卫生研究院(NIH) -观察性队列和横断面研究质量评估工具对纳入的研究进行了质量评估。结果：共检索文献8484篇，纳入2006 ~ 2021年间发表的文献10篇。只有一项研究被归类为质量良好，其余的研究质量一般。对整体认知和特定认知领域（语言、注意/定向、执行功能、记忆、处理速度和视觉空间技能）进行独立荟萃分析。有慢性肌肉骨骼疼痛和没有慢性肌肉骨骼疼痛的老年人在一般认知领域存在差异(k = 10；d = -0.20；95% ci = -0.38, -0.03；Z = -2.25, p = 0.03)和语言(k = 8；D = -0.16；95% ci = -0.28, -0.05；Z = -2.72, p = 0.006)，证据确定性极低。结论：总的来说，考虑到全球认知和特定认知领域的证据确定性非常低，我们不确定患有和没有慢性肌肉骨骼疼痛的老年人的认知功能是否存在差异。需要进一步的研究来比较有和没有慢性肌肉骨骼疼痛的老年人的认知表现，疼痛对认知功能的长期影响，以及这种潜在关系的机制。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Pain Practice ANESTHESIOLOGY-CLINICAL NEUROLOGY

CiteScore

5.60

自引率

3.80%

发文量

审稿时长

6-12 weeks

期刊介绍： Pain Practice, the official journal of the World Institute of Pain, publishes international multidisciplinary articles on pain and analgesia that provide its readership with up-to-date research, evaluation methods, and techniques for pain management. Special sections including the Consultant’s Corner, Images in Pain Practice, Case Studies from Mayo, Tutorials, and the Evidence-Based Medicine combine to give pain researchers, pain clinicians and pain fellows in training a systematic approach to continuing education in pain medicine. Prior to publication, all articles and reviews undergo peer review by at least two experts in the field.