The Study
Associations Between Age, Chronic Pain, Cognitive Function, and Pain Sensitivity: A Comparison of Older and Younger Adults
This study looked at a group of people and noticed that older adults with pain sometimes scored lower on memory tests than others. But it didn’t watch them over time or change anything — so we can’t say pain made their memory worse, just that the two were seen together.
Analysis score
Maximum 44 for a cross-sectional study.
Where the score came from
Older adults who have long-term pain tend to feel pain more easily and also do worse on memory and thinking tests than older adults without pain. Younger people with pain don’t show this link as strongly.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 536 / 100
Quality score
Snapshots of a population at a single point in time, or descriptions of small groups. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine cause and effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — for older adults, feeling pain more intensely may be tied to worse memory and focus, which could affect daily life.
- 2Older adults with pain had lower pain thresholds (felt pain more easily) and scored worse on memory and attention tests than older adults without pain.
- 3Younger adults with pain showed much weaker links between pain and thinking problems.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Experimental Aging Research
Year
2025
Authors
Fatma Kübra Çekok, Pınar Müge Altınkaya, Ayşenur Gökşen, A. Aktaş, T. Kahraman
Related Content
Claims (4)
Chronic symptoms like joint pain, brain fog, and fatigue after eating are not unavoidable parts of aging or normal human biology.
Older adults with chronic pain show lower scores on tests of memory, attention, and visual-spatial skills compared to older adults without chronic pain.
Older adults with chronic pain who are more sensitive to pain tend to perform worse on memory, attention, and problem-solving tests than younger adults with chronic pain who have similar pain sensitivity.
Older adults who experience chronic pain feel pain more easily than older adults without chronic pain, as measured by how much pressure is needed to cause pain at specific muscle sites.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.