Chronic Non-cancer Pain and Associated Risks of Incident Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias in Middle-Aged and Older Adults

Overview

Journal J Appl Gerontol

Specialties Geriatrics
Infectious Diseases

Date 2024 Mar 7

PMID 38451267

Authors

Yi-Han Hu

Dong-Chul Seo

Lesa Huber

Patrick C Shih

Hsien-Chang Lin

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The goal of this study is to investigate the association between chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI)/Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRDs) development among adults aged ≥50 using administrative claims data from a national commercial health insurance company during 2007-2017. To reduce selection bias, propensity-score matching was applied to select comparable CNCP and non-CNCP patients. Time-dependent Cox proportional-hazards regressions were conducted to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) of incident MCI/ADRDs. Of 170,900 patients with/without CNCP, 0.61% developed MCI and 2.33% had been diagnosed with ADRDs during the follow-up period. Controlling for potential confounders, CNCP patients had a 123% increase in MCI risk (HR = 2.23; 95% CI = 1.92-2.58) and a 44% increase in ADRDs risk (HR = 1.44; 95% CI = 1.34-1.54) relative to non-CNCP patients. CNCP is a risk factor for MCI/ADRDs. Promoting awareness and improving early CNCP diagnosis in middle-aged and older adults should be incorporated into cognitive impairment and dementia prevention.

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