The Clinical journal of pain
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Chronic pain, cognitive deficits, and pain-related disability are interrelated. The prevalence of chronic pain and undiagnosed cognitive difficulties in middle age and older adults is increasing. Of the cognitive systems, executive function and episodic memory are most relevant to chronic pain. We examined the hypothesis that cognitive screening composite scores for executive function and memory would negatively associate with pain intensity and pain disability in a group of middle-aged and older adults with knee pain with or at risk for osteoarthritis. ⋯ The results of the current study demonstrates associations between pain metrics and cognitive domain scores within a common cognitive screening tool.
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Theoretical models suggest that anxiety, pain intensity, and pain catastrophizing are implicated in a cycle that leads to heightened fear of cancer recurrence (FCR). However, these relationships have not been empirically examined. The objective of this study was to examine the relationships between anxiety symptoms, pain intensity, pain catastrophizing, and FCR in childhood cancer survivors and their parents and to examine whether pain catastrophizing predicts increased FCR beyond anxiety symptoms and pain intensity. ⋯ The results of this study provides novel data on the association between pain and FCR and suggests that a catastrophic style of thinking about pain is more closely related to heightened FCR than one's anxiety symptoms or the sensory pain experience in both childhood cancer survivors and their parents. Pain catastrophizing may be a novel intervention target for survivors and parents struggling with fears of recurrence.
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Cancer-related pain is a pervasive concern among adolescent and young adults (AYA) with cancer and is an emerging long-term health concern. Few studies have examined the complex contributions to pain among AYA. We aimed to fill a gap by (1) identifying subgroups of AYA with distinct patterns of pain severity and interference over time and (2) explore possible predictors of these patterns. ⋯ AYA with elevated physical and psychological symptoms were more likely to experience high consistent pain severity and pain interreference over time. Interventions aimed at reducing pain through focusing on teaching AYA how to alleviate physical symptoms and teaching coping skills to manage psychological distress may be beneficial.