ArticlePain2011
Mechanisms of association between obesity and chronic pain in the elderly.
Article in Pain, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 88 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
88 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 191 citations in OpenAlex.
- Adults with excess weight or obesity, but not with overweight, report greater pain intensities than individuals with normal weight: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Pooled it
- Chronic pain and mortality: a systematic review.PloS one · 2014Pooled it
- Trial
- Trial
- Can weight loss improve migraine headaches in obese women? Rationale and design of the Women's Health and Migraine (WHAM) randomized controlled trial.Contemporary clinical trials · 2013Trial
- Does low and heavy load resistance training affect musculoskeletal pain in overweight and obese women? Secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial.Brazilian journal of physical therapyTrial
- Chronic Pain in Older Adults: Risk Factors and Prevention.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Differential brain response to a highly palatable drink in chronic low back pain patients.Journal of neurophysiology · 2026Article
- Association Between Triglyceride Glucose Index and Postherpetic Neuralgia in Patients with Acute Herpes Zoster: A Retrospective Study.Pain and therapy · 2026Article
- Article
- Systemic inflammation mediating the relationship between lifestyle factors and musculoskeletal pain: a systematic review.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Association between chronic pain severity, falls, frailty and perceived health in older adults at risk of falls.European journal of medical research · 2025Article
- Physical activity mediates the relationship between weight status and pain impacting daily activities.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2025Article
- Vestibulodynia presentation is differentiated by the presence of additional chronic primary pain conditions.The journal of pain · 2025Article
- Research trends and hot spots in obesity-induced pain: A bibliometric analysis of the last 20 years.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2025Review
- Multimorbidity: Addressing the Elephant in the Clinic Room.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Endogenous opioid receptors and the feast or famine of maladaptive feeding.Nature communications · 2025Review
- [Association between weight-adjusted waist index and pain: A cross-sectional study].Beijing da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Peking University. Health sciences · 2025Article
- Joint Pain and Leisure-Time Physical Activity: Cross-Sectional Findings From the Cardiovascular Health Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
- A machine learning and nomogram-based study: effect of applying biologically formulated platelet-rich plasma (PRP) on the degree of pain relief after rotator cuff repair and prediction modeling, integrating biomedicine and artificial intelligence.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
28 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Chronic pain is more common in the elderly and impairs functioning and quality of life. Though obesity, defined by body mass index (BMI), has been associated with pain prevalence among older adults, the mechanism of this association remains unclear. We examined components of the metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, a marker of inflammation, and the presence of painful comorbidities as possible mediators of this association. Participants were 407 individuals aged >70 in the Einstein Aging Study. Chronic pain and pain over the last 3 months were defined using the Total Pain Index (TPI). Insulin resistance was modeled as fasting insulin, HOMA and QUICKI. High sensitivity C-reactive protein was used as a marker of inflammation. Cross-sectional logistic regression models were constructed to assess the associations of these factors with prevalent pain, adjusted for other known pain correlates. Prevalence of chronic pain was 52%. Of the clinical components of metabolic syndrome, central obesity was significantly associated with pain (OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.36-3.01). After adjustment for insulin resistance, inflammation, and pain-related comorbidities, central obesity predicted higher TPI scores (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.04-2.33) and nearly doubled the risk of chronic pain (OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.05-2.75). Central obesity is the metabolic syndrome component showing the strongest independent association with pain, and the relationship is not explained by markers of insulin resistance or inflammation, nor by the presence of osteoarthritis or neuropathy.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.