Approved Research

Genetic and brain mechanisms of pain trajectory on cognitive decline in elder

Lay summary

Both dementia and chronic pain cause significant public health and socioeconomic burden. People with chronic pain have more rapid decline in cognitive ability and higher risk of being dementia. Pain processes interfere with cognitive performances and, conversely, cognitive processing can reduce pain perception. The brain mechanisms underlying altered cognitive performance following pain process are unknown. The neural basis of chronic pain with rapid cognitive ability decline is unknown neither. Key research questions are :1) Will the pain condition affect the occurring of dementia? 2) What kind of pain impact the cognitive decline the most? Will the treatment of pain diminution the risk of dementia? 3) What is the brain and genetic mechanism of interrelationship between pain and cognitive decline? We would try to answer these questions by investigate the UK Biobank data. The whole program would last about 2 years. It will help us to develop new strategy to mitigate the cognitive function decline in chronic pain patients by recognizing the neural and genetic mechanism.