A total of 64 patients with musculoskeletal pain syndromes in the lumbosacral area for more than three months were studied. Patients were divided into age groups: 30–50 years (41 patients) and 51–60 years (23 patients). The reference group consisted of 20 healthy volunteers comparable in terms of gender, age, and level of education. Patients underwent neurological, neuro-orthopedic, clinical-pathopsychological, and neuropsychological investigations. Complaints of difficulty with mental concentration were present in 17.3% of patients and problems with remembering information in 20.2%. Both groups of patients with chronic pain showed mild neurodynamic impairments. As compared with healthy subjects, they had significantly worse performance in tests assessing memory (delayed reproduction in the 12-word test), attention, mental flexibility, and visuomotor coordination (the sequential number-letter combination test, digit symbol substitution test, and, in younger patients, the forward and backward number series repetition test). Cognitive functions in younger patients were affected by the sensory-discriminant (intensity) and affective-motivational (negative emotions, particularly anxiety) characteristics of pain. Cognitive functions in older patients were affected by the affective-motivational (anxiety, level of psychoemotional distress) and cognitive (level of catastrophization) components of pain. Treatment directed at correcting the peripheral sources of pain and emotional disorders (rational psychotherapy, tranquilizers, antidepressants) could potentially have positive effects on cognitive functions in patients with chronic pain.
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Translated from Zhurnal Nevrologii i Psikhiatrii imeni S. S. Korsakova, Vol. 109, No. 11, pp. 20–24, November, 2009.
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Melkumova, K.A., Podchufarova, E.V. & Yakhno, N.N. Characteristics of Cognitive Functions in Patients with Chronic Spinal Pain. Neurosci Behav Physi 41, 42–46 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-010-9376-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-010-9376-3