Real-time and recollected ratings of pain, mood, and fatigue in older adults.

Introduction: Pain intensity variability refers to the fluctuations in pain intensity levels experienced by an individual over time. Technological advances have simplified the use of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) paradigms for researchers and participants allowing for easier measurement of pain intensity variability by measuring pain intensity multiple times a day over several days. In this study, we used EMA to investigate the relationship between variability in pain intensity, mood, and fatigue and accuracy of recall in older adults.

The osteoarthritis pain enigma and how biomechanics research can lead to new solutions.

Purpose: The primary function of our joints is to provide pain-free movement. However, with osteoarthritis (OA), the joint's structures are damaged, potentially leading to chronic joint pain. While it is logical to assume chronic OA pain relates to tissue destruction, a direct relationship between joint structure and pain is not the full story.

Concurrent Validity of the Operationalization of High-Impact Pain Construct in the Health and Retirement Study.

Purpose: Chronic pain epidemiology is hindered by inconsistent definitions and methods. The U.S.

From mechanism to medicine: The progress and potential of epigenetics in osteoarthritis.

Objective: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic, degenerative disease of the articular joints. The disease presents an enormous clinical and economic burden globally, due in part to the lack of disease modifying therapies. For over a decade, OA researchers have been working to determine epigenetic mechanisms underlying the disease to better understand pathology, identify biomarkers of progression, and pinpoint novel targets for therapeutic intervention.

A guide to developing harmonized research workflows in a team science context.

Large, interdisciplinary team science initiatives are increasingly leveraged to uncover novel insights into complex scientific problems. Such projects typically aim to produce large, harmonized datasets that can be analyzed to yield breakthrough discoveries using cutting-edge scientific methods. Successfully harmonizing and integrating datasets generated by different technologies and research groups is a considerable task, which requires an extensive supportive framework that is built by all members involved.

Gait speed-related changes in electrocortical activity in younger and older adults.

Preferred and maximum walking speeds decline as we age, and the decline has been associated with worsening health. Slowing of gait in older individuals is correlated with biomechanical and neural factors, but historically it has been difficult to measure whole brain activity during walking. Recent advances in mobile brain imaging with high-density electroencephalography (EEG) allow for separation and localization of electrical brain activity during walking.

High-Impact Pain Predicts Incidence of Subjective and Objective Cognitive Decline.

Chronic pain is the most common health challenge for older adults and a significant risk factor for cognitive impairments and dementia. This study examined the relationship between high-impact pain (pain that limits daily activities) and subjective cognitive decline (SCD) in 13,763 adults aged 50 and older from the Health and Retirement Study (2004-2020). High-impact pain was associated with a higher prevalence and incidence of SCD as compared to no pain and low-impact pain, adjusted for sociodemographic and clinical factors.

Assessing Self-reported and Device-Derived Sleep Quality in a Sample of Older Adults with Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain.

Objectives: Our primary aim was to evaluate the agreement between subjective and objective methods of measuring sleep quality in a musculoskeletal pain sample. Secondly, we aimed to explore the relationship between subjective and objective sleep quality-and its impact on function-and clinical and experimental pain.

Methods: We assessed subjective sleep using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and objective sleep using the Oura ring-a wearable characterizing sleep stages.

Differential DNA methylation profiles of Alzheimer's disease-related genomic pathways in the blood of cognitively-intact individuals with and without high impact chronic pain.

Background: Chronic pain and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are prevalent in older age and their etiologies remain to be understoodand evidence supports potential associations between the two. Both high impact pain and AD have been previously associated with differences in the epigenome. Interactions with the epigenome may serve as a possible underlying mechanism linking high impact pain and AD.

Widespread and prolonged pain may reduce brain clearance capacity only via sleep impairment: Evidence from participants with knee pain.

The brain is key in the pain-sleep relationship, and sleep is needed for glymphatic clearance. However, no studies have examined how pain relates to the glymphatic system (GS). Characterizing the GS alongside sleep quality in well-characterized pain samples is essential for advancing this understanding.

Correlates of gait speed changes during uneven terrain walking in older adults: differential roles of cognitive and sensorimotor function.

Many studies of walking function and aging have measured walking on flat surfaces with and without dual-tasking (i.e., performing a concurrent cognitive task).

The Mediating Role of Physical Function on the Self-Reported Pain and Cognitive Function Association.

Background/objectives: Studies that have investigated the relationship between pain intensity and interference and cognitive function have failed to fully consider the role physical function may play in this relationship. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role of physical function in the relationship between self-reported pain intensity and interference and cognitive function in middle-to-older aged adults with knee pain.

Methods: Middle-to-older aged participants with knee pain (n = 202) completed the Graded Chronic Pain Scale to assess pain intensity and interference, the Short Performance Physical Battery to assess lower-extremity physical function, and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment to assess global cognitive function.

Understanding Cognition, Oxytocin, and Pain in Elders (UCOPE): protocol for a double-blinded cross-over trial in chronic knee osteoarthritis pain.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the leading cause of disability among older adults with the knee being the most affected joint. Specifically, there is an urgent need to develop better analgesics for individuals with OA-related pain, since currently used analgesics frequently fail to provide adequate relief or must be discontinued owing to adverse effects. A promising treatment is the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT), which has been shown to play a role in endogenous analgesia with human and animal studies demonstrating anti-nociceptive effects.

The contribution of clock genes BMAL1 and PER2 in osteoarthritis-associated pain.

Joint pain is the primary symptom of osteoarthritis (OA) and the main motivator for patients to seek medical care. OA-related pain significantly restricts joint function and diminishes quality of life. Despite the availability of various pain-relieving medications for OA, current treatment strategies often fall short in delivering adequate pain relief.

A multi-modal evaluation of experimental pain and psychological function in women with carpometacarpal osteoarthritis.

Objective: Thumb carpometacarpal osteoarthritis (CMC1 OA) is a prevalent and debilitating condition that lacks effective treatments. Understanding the multidimensional pain experience across CMC1 OA disease stages is crucial to improving treatment outcomes. This study examined how radiographic CMC1 OA severity is associated with physical, psychological, and somatosensory function.

Clinical and biobehavioral phenotypic assessments and data harmonization for the RE-JOIN research consortium: Recommendations for common data element selection.

Background: The Restoring Joint Health and Function to Reduce Pain (RE-JOIN) Consortium is part of the Helping to End Addiction Long-term® (HEAL) Initiative. HEAL is an ambitious, NIH-wide initiative to speed scientific solutions to stem the national opioid public health crisis. The RE-JOIN consortium's over-arching goal is to define how chronic joint pain-mediating neurons innervate different articular and -articular tissues, with a focus on the knee and temporomandibular joints (TMJ) across species employing the latest neuroscience approaches.

Body composition and body mass index are independently associated with widespread pain and experimental pain sensitivity in older adults: a pilot investigation.

Introduction: Chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) pain is prevalent in older adults and confers significant risk for loss of independence and low quality of life. While obesity is considered a risk factor for developing chronic MSK pain, both high and low body mass index (BMI) have been associated with greater pain reporting in older adults. Measures of body composition that distinguish between fat mass and lean mass may help to clarify the seemingly contradictory associations between BMI and MSK pain in this at-risk group.

High-Impact Pain Is Associated With Epigenetic Aging Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Findings From the Health and Retirement Study.

Background: Chronic pain has been associated with accelerated biological aging, which may be related to epigenetic alterations. We evaluated the association of high-impact pain (ie, pain that limits activities and function) with epigenetic aging, a measure of biological aging, in a nationally representative sample of middle-aged and older adults in the United States.

Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of adults 50 years of age and older from the 2016 Health and Retirement Study.

Addressing Pain Using a Mediterranean Ketogenic Nutrition Program in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Chronic pain has negative physical and cognitive consequences in older adults and may lead to a poorer quality of life. Mediterranean ketogenic nutrition (MKN) is a promising nonpharmacological intervention for pain management, but long-term adherence is challenging due to the carbohydrate restrictive diet regimen. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the pilot MKN Adherence (MKNA) Program on pain in older adults with mild cognitive impairment and to assess whether improvements in self-reported pain were associated with adherence to MKN.

Food insecurity and epigenetic aging in middle-aged and older adults.

Background: Food insecurity is recognized as a key social determinant of health for older adults. While food insecurity has been associated with morbidity and mortality, few studies have examined how it may contribute to accelerated biological aging. A potential mechanism by which food insecurity may contribute to aging is via epigenetic alterations.

Association of Muscle Quality and Pain in Adults With Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis, Independent of Muscle Strength: Findings From a Cross-Sectional Study.

Objective: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a leading cause of chronic pain in adults and shows wide interindividual variability, with peripheral and central factors contributing to the pain experience. Periarticular factors, such as muscle quality (eg, echo intensity [EI] and shear wave velocity [SWV]), may contribute to knee OA pain; however, the role of muscle quality in OA symptoms has yet to be fully established.

Methods: Twenty-six adults (age >50 years) meeting clinical criteria for knee OA were included in this cross-sectional study.