Cross-sectional relationship between pain intensity and subjective cognitive decline among middle-aged and older adults with arthritis or joint conditions: Results from a population-based study

Ann L Horgas; Amanda L Elliott; Shuang Yang; Yi Guo

doi:10.1177/20503121221095923

Cross-sectional relationship between pain intensity and subjective cognitive decline among middle-aged and older adults with arthritis or joint conditions: Results from a population-based study

SAGE Open Med. 2022 May 17:10:20503121221095923. doi: 10.1177/20503121221095923. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Ann L Horgas¹, Amanda L Elliott², Shuang Yang³, Yi Guo^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biobehavioral Nursing Science, College of Nursing, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
² Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.
³ Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
⁴ Cancer Informatics Shared Resource, University of Florida Health Cancer Center, Gainesville, FL, USA.

Abstract

Introduction: We investigated cross-sectional relationships between arthritis or joint-related pain intensity and subjective cognitive decline in middle-aged and older adults.

Methods: The sample consisted of 30,150 adults ⩾age 45 years with self-reported arthritis or joint conditions who completed key variables in the 2015 wave of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Results: Using weighted data, 94.2% of the sample reported experiencing joint pain in the last month (35.9% reported moderate pain and 30.6% reported severe pain) and 17.3% reported subjective cognitive decline. In logistic regression models, pain intensity was associated with significantly higher odds of reporting subjective cognitive decline, after controlling for age, race/ethnicity, sex, education, household income, cardiovascular health, mental health, and history of stroke. Those with moderate pain were two times as likely to report subjective cognitive decline and those with severe pain were more than three times as likely to report subjective cognitive decline relative to those without pain, adjusting for covariates.

Conclusion: The results of this study highlight a significant relationship between pain intensity and subjective cognitive decline in middle-aged and older adults with arthritis or joint conditions typically associated with joint pain. Moderate and severe joint pain is significantly associated with higher risk of subjective cognitive decline, after controlling for personal and health characteristics. Future studies with more comprehensive assessments of pain and cognition are warranted to further elucidate these relationships and their underlying mechanisms.

Keywords: Joint pain; adults; arthritis; cognition; subjective cognitive decline.