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Background And Aims: Neuropathic pain has been shown to be accompanied by cognitive impairment, but the specific impact of postherpetic neuropathic pain on cognitive processes has not been explored. This study aims to evaluate the impact of pain on several domains of cognition in older patients with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN).
Methods: This cross-sectional study (clinicaltrial.gov NCT 00989040) included 84 individuals after signature of informed consent.
Participants: 42 patients with PHN and 42 healthy volunteers. Of the 42 PHN patients, 21 received systemic treatment (antidepressants, anticonvulsants, opiates) and 21 had topical treatment with the 5% lidocaine medicated plaster. All participants performed a panel of four cognitive tests: reaction time, semantic memory, decision-making, and visual memory (Cantab, Cambridge).
Results: Forty men and 44 women with a mean age of 72 ± 8 years participated. Each PHN patient was matched by age and gender with a healthy volunteer. Vigilance, decision-making, and semantic memory were significantly impaired (P < 0.05) in patients on systemic treatment, especially with antidepressants, while no significant changes were noted between the lidocaine plaster group and their matched controls of healthy volunteers.
Conclusion: This study shows the deleterious effect of systemic PHN treatment on several domains of cognition. Cognitive impairment associated with pain and antidepressants may be reversed by topical pain management. Topical treatment with 5% lidocaine medicated plaster is a valuable alternative for pain alleviation and maintains cognitive integrity in this vulnerable population.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/papr.12079 | DOI Listing |
JAMA Netw Open
September 2025
Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
Importance: Patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRDs) frequently experience psychological distress; however, access to psychological support remains limited.
Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of a digital psychological intervention for individuals with IRDs.
Design, Setting, And Participants: Participants aged 18 years or older were recruited across Germany between February 22 and June 4, 2024, if they had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or systemic lupus erythematosus and reported psychological distress and reduced quality of life.
JAMA Netw Open
September 2025
Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Importance: As obesity rates rise in the US, managing associated metabolic comorbidities presents a growing burden to the health care system. While bariatric surgery has shown promise in mitigating established metabolic conditions, no large studies have quantified the risk of developing major obesity-related comorbidities after bariatric surgery.
Objective: To identify common metabolic phenotypes for patients eligible for bariatric surgery and to estimate crude and adjusted incidence rates of additional metabolic comorbidities associated with bariatric surgery compared with weight management program (WMP) alone.
JAMA Netw Open
September 2025
Centre de recherche intégrée pour un système apprenant en santé et services sociaux, Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de Chaudière-Appalaches, Lévis, Québec, Canada.
Importance: Caregivers of community-dwelling older adults play a protective role in emergency department (ED) care transitions. When the demands of caregiving result in caregiver burden, ED returns can ensue.
Objective: To develop models describing whether caregiver burden is associated with ED revisits and hospital admissions up to 30 days after discharge from an initial ED visit.
Age Ageing
August 2025
Department of Nursing Health Services Research, Graduate School of Health Care Sciences, Institute of Science Tokyo, Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Background: Little is known about how ambulatory care sensitive condition (ACSC)-related readmissions can be reduced in acute care settings.
Objective: This study examined the association between transitional care for hospitalised older patients with ACSC and ACSC-related readmissions.
Methods: This retrospective observational cohort study included patients aged 65 years and older admitted with ACSC as the primary diagnosis from 1 April 2022 to 31 January 2023, using linked data from the Diagnosis Procedure Combination and the medical functions of the hospital beds database.
J Neurooncol
September 2025
Sunnybrook Research Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Purpose: Breast cancer (BC) is the most frequent cancer among women and the second leading cause of central nervous system (CNS) metastases. While the epidemiology of CNS metastases from BC has been well described, little is known about the treatment patterns and outcomes of young women < 40 years of age with BC that is metastatic to the CNS.
Methods: In this retrospective analysis, we identified patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) to the CNS who were treated at the Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Center, Toronto, Canada between 2008 and 2018.