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Interrelationships between pain processing, cortisol and cognitive performance in chronic whiplash-associated disorders

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Abstract

The present study aims at studying interactions between cognitive performance and conditioned pain modulation in patients with chronic whiplash-associated disorders (WAD) and healthy controls. In addition, the relation between cortisol concentrations and cognitive performance will be studied in patients with chronic WAD. Thirty-one subjects, 16 healthy subjects and 15 patients with chronic WAD, were enrolled and subjected to several self-report and physiological measures. Self-report measures encompassed pain rating during a procedure evaluating conditioned pain modulation. Afterward, they were subjected to physiological measures, which are cognitive tests (Stroop task, psychomotor vigilance task, and operation span task) preceded and followed by salivary cortisol concentration measurements. Chronic WAD patients performed worse in recall at the operation span task and presented longer reaction times at the psychomotor vigilance task and at the Stroop task when sleep-related words were shown (p < .05). Conditioned pain modulation and cortisol concentrations were not significantly different between patients and controls (p > .05). Only in the healthy subjects, conditioned pain modulation and baseline cortisol concentrations were correlated to cognitive performance (p < .05). This is the first study addressing the relation between pain inhibition and cognitive performance in chronic WAD. We did not reveal impaired pain inhibition but did reveal cognitive dysfunctions in patients with chronic WAD. In healthy subjects, pain inhibition was related to cognitive performance but not in the patient group.

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Acknowledgments

Mira Meeus is an awardee of the 2012 early research career grant of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), funded by the Scan│Design Foundation by INGER & JENS BRUUN. Kelly Ickmans is a research fellow of ME Research UK.The authors are grateful to Johan Schiettecatte for kindly providing his expertise on cortisol analyses and to Niko De Temmerman and Tinne Boey en Wouter Rosseels for assistance in data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Human Physiology and Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Physical Education and Physiotherapy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

    Mira Meeus, Jessica Van Oosterwijck, Kelly Ickmans, Nathalie Pattyn & Jo Nijs

  2. Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Mira Meeus, Isabel Baert, Nathalie Roussel & Filip Struyf

  3. Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy, Ghent University, Ghent Campus Heymans (UZ) 3 B3, De Pintelaan 185, Ghent, Belgium

    Mira Meeus, Jessica Van Oosterwijck & Iris Coppieters

  4. Pain in Motion Research Group http://www.paininmotion.be

    Mira Meeus, Jessica Van Oosterwijck, Kelly Ickmans, Isabel Baert, Nathalie Roussel, Filip Struyf & Jo Nijs

  5. Department of Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy, University Hospital Brussels, Brussels, Belgium

    Kelly Ickmans & Jo Nijs

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  1. Mira Meeus
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Correspondence to Mira Meeus.

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Meeus, M., Van Oosterwijck, J., Ickmans, K. et al. Interrelationships between pain processing, cortisol and cognitive performance in chronic whiplash-associated disorders. Clin Rheumatol 34, 545–553 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-013-2446-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-013-2446-5

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