Findings on Factors in Pain Resilience
A new publication at the Journal of Pain seeks to examine how different social and demographic factors influence people’s ability to cope with chronic low back pain.
By studying factors such as pain resilience alongside age, gender, education level and income, alongside other factors, researchers from The University of Alabama, Washington University in St. Louis, as well as Larissa Strath at the University of Florida, found multiple interesting points!
* Older adults and women tended to report lower pain resilience.
* Higher levels of education and income are associated with better pain resilience. This generally means that individuals with more education and higher income might have better access to resources that help manage pain.
* Married individuals or those in long-term relationships often show greater resilience, likely due to emotional and social support from their partners.
Overall, the study highlighted the importance of taking sociodemographic factors into account when developing individualized pain management programs.
Check out the article, “The Impact of Sociodemographic Factors on Pain Resilience among Adults with Chronic Low Back Pain” here!
Epigenetic Clocks Reveal Effects on Aging
Chronic pain can make individuals biologically older than their actual age. This is known as biological aging and occurs via changes in DNA. A recent study conducted by Larissa Strath, Yenisel Cruz-Almeida and Javier Tamargo examined how high-impact pain affected biological aging in middle-aged and older adults in the U.S.
Using 13 different epigenetic clocks to estimate biological age, it was found that people with high-impact pain showed signs of faster aging at the DNA level and experienced greater limitations in daily activity. The results indicate that effective management of chronic pain may actually help slow down an accelerated aging process!
The research article, “High-impact pain is associated with epigenetic aging among middle-aged and older adults: Findings from the Health and Retirement Study”, has been published in The Journals of Gerontology Series A Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences!