Chronic Pain Causes Brains to Age More Rapidly

A study published in Pain indicated that chronic pain causes brains to age faster, raising the risk of Alzheimer's and other neurological age-related problems, reports Pain News Network . Over three years, the researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to measure the volume of gray and white matter in the brains of 47 older adults, 60 to 83. The subjects had no neurological disorders and were in generally good health, although 33 experienced some form of chronic pain. Participants who did not have chronic pain had brains that appeared four years younger than their actual age, while the brains of chronic pain sufferers appeared an average two years older. The latter subjects also were more likely to have greater pain intensity, as well as a "less agreeable personality" and less emotional stability. Volunteers who reported getting pain treatment in the last three months had younger-seeming brains, as did pain sufferers who had a more positive outlook. "Our findings . . . suggest that both pain treatments and psychological traits may significantly mitigate the effect of pain on the aging brain and could further decrease the risk of age-related deterioration and death," said the University of Florida Institute on Aging's Yenisel Cruz-Almeida.