Chronic pain related to brain aging

The consequences of chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) may extend well beyond physical discomfort, potentially leading to faster aging of the brain, new research showed.

Using structural MRI data from more than 9000 adults with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) from the UK Biobank, investigators developed a brain age model to compare an individual's brain age with their chronological age. Those with KOA showed a much faster rate of brain aging than healthy individuals.

The acceleration in brain aging was largely driven by the hippocampus and predicted memory decline and incident dementia during follow-up. Researchers identified a gene highly expressed in glial cells as a possible genetic factor for accelerated brain aging.

CMP affects more than 40% of the world's population and has been shown to have a harmful impact on cognitive function.

These data also suggest that the SLC39A8 gene, which is highly expressed in glial cells, might be a key genetic factor underpinning this acceleration.