Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37143042›Full record

ArticleBMC medicine2023

Association between chronic pain and risk of incident dementia: findings from a prospective cohort.

Jing Tian, Graeme Jones, Xin Lin, Yuan Zhou, Anna King, James Vickers, Feng Pan

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BMC medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
16.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

23 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 49 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  4. Article
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  7. Article
  8. Chronic Pain and Cognitive Dysfunction: Clinical Implement, Mechanism, and Therapeutic Strategy.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
    Review
  9. Article
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  12. Article
  13. Article
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  15. Observational
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  19. Dyadic Comparison of Pain and Stress in Alzheimer's Disease and Caregivers.Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses · 2025
    Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Jing TianMenzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 23, TAS, Hobart, 7000, Australia.
Graeme JonesMenzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 23, TAS, Hobart, 7000, Australia.
Xin LinMenzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 23, TAS, Hobart, 7000, Australia.
Yuan ZhouMenzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 23, TAS, Hobart, 7000, Australia.
Anna KingWicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 23, TAS, Hobart, 7000, Australia.
James VickersWicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 23, TAS, Hobart, 7000, Australia.
Feng PanMenzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 23, TAS, Hobart, 7000, Australia. Feng.Pan@utas.edu.au.ORCID 0000-0002-3403-0094
University of Tasmania · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundChronic musculoskeletal pain has been linked to dementia; however, chronic pain typically occurs in multiple sites; therefore, this study was to investigate whether greater number of chronic pain sites is associated with a higher risk of dementia and its subtypes.

methodsParticipants (N = 356,383) in the UK Biobank who were dementia-free at baseline were included. Pain in the hip, knee, back, and neck/shoulder or 'all over the body' and its duration were assessed. Participants were categorised into six groups: no chronic pain; chronic pain in 1, 2, 3, and 4 sites, and 'all over the body'. All-cause dementia and its subtypes were ascertained using hospital inpatient and death registry records. Cox regression was used to investigate the associations between the number of chronic pain sites and the incidence of all-cause dementia and its subtypes.

resultsOver a median follow-up of 13 years, 4959 participants developed dementia. After adjustment for sociodemographic, lifestyle, comorbidities, pain medications, psychological problems, and sleep factors, greater number of chronic pain sites was associated with an increased risk of incident all-cause dementia (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.08 per 1 site increase, 95% CI 1.05-1.11) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) (HR = 1.09 per 1-site increase, 95% CI 1.04-1.13) in a dose-response manner but not vascular and frontotemporal dementia. No significant association was found between the number of chronic pain sites and the risk of incident all-cause dementia among a subsample that underwent a fluid intelligence test.

conclusionsGreater number of chronic pain sites was associated with an increased risk of incident all-cause dementia and AD, suggesting that chronic pain in multiple sites may contribute to individuals' dementia risk and is an underestimated risk factor for dementia.

Indexed as

Alzheimer DiseaseChronic PainComorbidityHumansIncidenceProspective StudiesRisk FactorsChronic painDementiaIncidenceMultisite painMusculoskeletal pain

Identifiers

PMID37143042
PMCPMC10161483
OpenAlexW4368617385

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.