SynthesisTranslational psychiatry2026
Chronic pain and risk of cognitive impairment: a meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort studies.
Synthesis in Translational psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Pain hypervigilance is associated with daily-activity pain beyond resting pain in women with fibromyalgia: a cross-sectional observational study.Clinical rheumatology · 2026Article
- Pain and the aging brain: beyond association toward action.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2026Article
- Pain in Alzheimer's Disease: Disrupted Multilevel Integration of Nociception, Affective Processing and Clinical Expression Across Clinical and Preclinical Evidence.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Fibromyalgia and Risk of Alzheimer's DiseaseRelated Dementia: A Nationwide Bidirectional Case-Control Study.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Chronic pain is increasingly recognized as a potential risk factor for cognitive decline, yet findings from observational studies are inconsistent. We conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the long-term association between chronic pain and cognitive impairment. PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched from inception to January 2025 for longitudinal cohort studies assessing this relationship. Twenty-eight eligible cohorts comprising 7,914,407 participants were included. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were pooled using random-effects models; subgroup, sensitivity, and meta-regression analyses were performed to explore heterogeneity. Chronic pain was associated with a higher risk of cognitive impairment (pooled adjusted OR = 1.30; 95% CI: 1.14-1.47), an effect driven by dementia (pooled OR = 1.43; 95% CI: 1.23-1.65) rather than by global cognitive performance scores (pooled OR = 0.99; 95% CI: 0.88-1.11). Associations were stronger in studies with follow-up ≥5 years (OR = 1.37), in older populations (OR = 1.30), and in cohorts focusing on headache-related pain (OR = 1.42). Meta-regression indicated that depression was a key moderator of the association. These findings suggest that chronic pain is linked specifically to an increased risk of dementia, particularly among older individuals and those with headache-related pain. Integrative clinical strategies addressing pain and co-occurring depression, along with mechanistic and interventional studies using standardized cognitive endpoints, are warranted.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.