Chronic pain linked to memory decline and dementia in new study

Written by Francesca Lake

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New research from a team at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF; CA, USA) has demonstrated that chronic pain is linked to memory decline and dementia in older adults. The study provides the first suggestion that chronic pain is related to brain changes that contribute to dementia. The research analyzed data from the American Health and Retirement Study. Their study comprised analysis of biennial interviews of 10,065 community-dwelling adults aged over 62 years in 2000. The participants who indicated they were persistently troubled by moderate or severe pain in both 1998 and 2000 demonstrated a 9.2% faster decline in...

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