Experimental Pain Phenotype Profiles in Community-dwelling Older Adults.

Objectives: Pain sensitivity and the brain structure are critical in modulating pain and may contribute to the maintenance of pain in older adults. However, a paucity of evidence exists investigating the link between pain sensitivity and brain morphometry in older adults. The purpose of the study was to identify pain sensitivity profiles in healthy, community-dwelling older adults using a multimodal quantitative sensory testing protocol and to differentiate profiles based on brain morphometry.

Resting-state functional connectivity patterns are associated with worst pain duration in community-dwelling older adults.

Introduction: An individual's chronic pain history is associated with brain morphometric alterations; but little is known about the association between pain history and brain function.

Objectives: This cross-sectional study aimed at determining how worst musculoskeletal pain intensity (WPINT) moderated the association between worst musculoskeletal pain duration (WPDUR) and brain resting-state magnetic resonance imaging functional connectivity (RSFC) in community-dwelling older adults (60-94 years, 75% females, 97% right-handed).

Methods: Resting-state magnetic resonance imaging functional connectivity between region of interests was linearly regressed on WPDUR and WPINT.

Chronic Pain is Associated With Reduced Sympathetic Nervous System Reactivity During Simple and Complex Walking Tasks: Potential Cerebral Mechanisms.

Background: Autonomic dysregulation may lead to blunted sympathetic reactivity in chronic pain states. Autonomic responses are controlled by the central autonomic network (CAN). Little research has examined sympathetic reactivity and associations with brain CAN structures in the presence of chronic pain; thus, the present study aims to investigate how chronic pain influences sympathetic reactivity and associations with CAN brain region volumes.

Pain and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in Aging.

Objective: The present study aimed to determine whether specific cognitive domains part of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) are significantly lower in community-dwelling older adults with chronic pain compared with older adults without pain and whether these domains would be associated with self-reported pain, disability, and somatosensory function.

Design: Secondary data analysis, cross-sectional.

Setting: University of Florida.

Cortical Thickness Mediates the Association Between Self-Reported Pain and Sleep Quality in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Introduction: Musculoskeletal pain is prevalent in older adults representing the leading cause of disability in this population. Similarly, nearly half of older adults complain of difficulty sleeping. We aimed to explore the relationship between sleep quality with self-reported musculoskeletal pain, somatosensory and pain thresholds in community-dwelling older adults and further explore brain regions that may contribute to this association.

Age and pain differences in non-verbal fluency performance: Associations with cortical thickness and subcortical volumes.

Musculoskeletal pain is a cause of disability in older individuals and is commonly associated with executive function deficits. In particular, verbal fluency deficits have been previously reported in older individuals with and without musculoskeletal pain, however, no studies have examined non-verbal fluency. The present study investigated non-verbal fluency performance in younger and older individuals and associations with clinical and experimental pain.