Wednesday, February 5, 2025
2/5/2025
Chronic pain affects over 100 million American adults and >40% of older adults age ≥65, with estimated costs of >$500 billion to $1 trillion annually. Older adults are at increased risk of having multiple painful conditions and are living longer with the negative impacts of chronic pain. Chronic pain, regardless of anatomy or diagnosis involved (e.g., back pain, migraine), is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Limited insights into whether common mechanisms underlie all pain conditions, regardless of diagnosis, has contributed to inadequate pain management options, and in turn, to the opioid epidemic. Health care providers who treat one pain condition (e.g., joint pain) typically do not manage symptoms in other parts of the body (e.g., abdominal pain), and patients are often referred from one specialist to another. Studying commonalities of various chronic overlapping pain conditions (COPC) in community-based cohorts unselected for pain conditions can provide novel insights into causes and consequences of chronic pain as a disease itself. For example, neurophysiologic alterations in pain processing such as pain sensitization (assessing ascending pain pathways) and conditioned pain modulation (CPM) (assessing descending pain modulation) may be common mechanisms underlying all chronic pain. Such knowledge would spur development of novel pain management approaches for all types of pain regardless of anatomy or diagnosis involved. Despite the substantial public health burden of chronic pain, little is known about the epidemiology and evolution of COPC in older adults, nor of the impact of COPC on physical function, risk of nursing home admission, and mortality in older adults. We propose to evaluate chronic pain in the upcoming study visit of a thoroughly-characterized community-based older adult cohort unselected for any pain complaints, the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) (N~1874, mean age 76, 84% ≥age 70). We aim to understand the epidemiology of COPC, regardless of anatomy or diagnosis involved, the evolution of COPC over time, neurophysiologic alterations in pain processing as risk factors for COPC and its evolution, and consequences of COPC and altered pain processing in older adults. We propose acquiring objective quantitative sensory testing (QST) measures of pain sensitization and CPM, which are associated with pain severity and response to treatment in experimental settings of subjects selected for particular pain conditions. However, whether QST- assessed neurophysiologic alterations may be common underlying risk factors for all forms of chronic pain, and for functional limitations, institutionalization, and mortality in a community-based cohort of older adults unselected for pain is unknown. We will collect data regarding a multitude of chronic pain conditions, QST, self-report and performance-based physical function, and nursing home admissions during the next planned study visit, as well as two follow-up assessments to obtain longitudinal data, and leverage the ongoing FHS surveillance of mortality. Our work will address several knowledge gaps, and insights gained may ultimately facilitate new preventive and therapeutic approaches to relieving chronic pain and its consequences, regardless of underlying diagnosis.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).