Cardiovascular risk factors in cognitively impaired nursing home patients: A relationship with pain?

Abstract Cardiovascular risk factors (CRF) such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus favour the development of both vascular dementia (VaD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The resulting deafferentation may increase the experience of pain in VaD and in AD. The goal of the present study was to examine...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	European journal of pain 2007-08, Vol.11 (6), p.707-710
Main Authors:	Achterberg, W.P, Scherder, E, Pot, A.M, Ribbe, M.W
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Age Distribution Aged Aged, 80 and over Alzheimer Disease - epidemiology Alzheimer Disease - pathology Alzheimer Disease - physiopathology Anesthesia & Perioperative Care Brain - pathology Brain - physiopathology Cardiovascular Diseases - epidemiology Cognition Disorders - epidemiology Cognition Disorders - pathology Cognition Disorders - physiopathology Comorbidity Dementia Dementia - epidemiology Dementia - pathology Dementia - physiopathology Dementia, Vascular - epidemiology Dementia, Vascular - pathology Dementia, Vascular - physiopathology Diabetes mellitus Diabetes Mellitus - epidemiology Female Humans Hypertension Hypertension - epidemiology Male Middle Aged Nerve Fibers, Myelinated - pathology Netherlands Neural Pathways - pathology Neural Pathways - physiopathology Nursing home Nursing Homes - statistics & numerical data Nursing Homes - trends Pain Pain - epidemiology Pain - pathology Pain - physiopathology Pain Medicine Prevalence Risk Factors Sex Distribution White matter lesions
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Summary:	Abstract Cardiovascular risk factors (CRF) such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus favour the development of both vascular dementia (VaD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The resulting deafferentation may increase the experience of pain in VaD and in AD. The goal of the present study was to examine the relationship between CRF and pain in a sample of 107 cognitively impaired nursing home patients who had also a chronic pain condition. The prevalence of pain in patients with hypertension or diabetes mellitus was higher (25/41 = 61% of them had pain) than those without diabetes or hypertension (of whom 24/66 = 36.4% had pain, p = 0.017). In a multivariate logistic regression model (adjusted for gender, age and depression) the presence of diabetes or hypertension was a risk indicator for pain: odds ratio: 3.48, p = 0.005, 95% CI: 1.45–8.38. This finding supports the hypothesis that as a result of CRF, disruptions of cortico–cortico and cortico–subcortical pathways occur, and consequently, enhances pain in this group of patients.
ISSN:	1090-3801 1532-2149