Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Neurocognitive Aging and Behavior
Volume 16 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2024.1491120
This article is part of the Research Topic The Open Challenges of Cognitive Frailty: Risk Factors, Neuropsychological Profiles and Psychometric Assessment for Healthy Aging View all 9 articles

Association between Chronic Pain and Cognitive Frailty among Middle-aged and Elderly Individuals: Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS)

Provisionally accepted
Tianjiao Li Tianjiao Li 1,2Lingxuan Li Lingxuan Li 3*Hongyang Xie Hongyang Xie 4*Rongyu Ping Rongyu Ping 1,5*Yane Guo Yane Guo 1*Dongmei Li Dongmei Li 1*Yuwei zhang Yuwei zhang 6*Xiujuan Bai Xiujuan Bai 1*Bo Sun Bo Sun 1*
  • 1 Geriatric Neurological Department of the Second Medical Center & National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China, Beijing, China
  • 2 Beijing Retired Cadre Service Administration, Beijing, China, Beijing, China
  • 3 Department of Psychology, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China, Beijing, China
  • 4 Neurological Department of the Seventh Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China, Beijing, China
  • 5 State Key Laboratory of Medical Proteomics, Beijing Proteome Research Center, National Center for Protein Sciences (Beijing), Beijing Institute of Lifeomics, Beijing, China, Beijing, China
  • 6 The 19th Retired Cadre Rehabilitation Center, Beijing, China, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background：Frailty, particularly cognitive frailty, is an escalating public health issue.Cognitive frailty is defined by the simultaneous presence of physical frailty and cognitive impairment, without a confirmed diagnosis of dementia, and has become a significant geriatric syndrome. This study aimed to explore the association between chronic pain and the risk of cognitive frailty.utilized data from two waves (2011 and 2015) of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), conducting both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses involving 17,705 Chinese adults aged 45 years and older. Chronic pain was defined as pain reported at both time points. Cognitive function was evaluated using a questionnaire adapted from the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status. The frailty index (FI) was derived from a 30-item assessment. Cognitive frailty was characterized by the co-occurrence of cognitive impairment and physical frailty.Results：Among the 14,285 participants, 5.39% exhibited cognitive frailty at baseline. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses indicated that individuals suffering from chronic pain faced a higher likelihood of developing cognitive frailty compared to those without pain. After adjusting for potential confounders, multivariate models also indicated a higher odds of cognitive frailty for participants with chronic pain.Chronic pain is significantly associated with an elevated risk of cognitive frailty among middle-aged and elderly individuals. These findings highlight the importance of managing chronic pain to mitigate the risk of cognitive frailty, thereby potentially enhancing the quality of life for the aging population and alleviating the economic burden on families and society.

    Keywords: Chronic Pain, cognitive frailty, Middle-aged and elderly population, China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, Aging

    Received: 04 Sep 2024; Accepted: 14 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Li, Li, Xie, Ping, Guo, Li, zhang, Bai and Sun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Lingxuan Li, Department of Psychology, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China, Beijing, China
    Hongyang Xie, Neurological Department of the Seventh Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China, Beijing, China
    Rongyu Ping, Geriatric Neurological Department of the Second Medical Center & National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China, Beijing, China
    Yane Guo, Geriatric Neurological Department of the Second Medical Center & National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China, Beijing, China
    Dongmei Li, Geriatric Neurological Department of the Second Medical Center & National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China, Beijing, China
    Yuwei zhang, The 19th Retired Cadre Rehabilitation Center, Beijing, China, Beijing, China
    Xiujuan Bai, Geriatric Neurological Department of the Second Medical Center & National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China, Beijing, China
    Bo Sun, Geriatric Neurological Department of the Second Medical Center & National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China, Beijing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.