08:30 - 10:00
Wed-A7-Talk VI-
Wed-Talk VI-
Room: A7
Chair/s:
Angelika Dierolf
The aging population is disproportionally affected by pain and its consequences. Aging is known to affect neurobiological aspects of pain perception and has been associated with a deterioration of descending pain inhibitory mechanisms. However, little is known about whether cognitive pain modulatory mechanisms are preserved in the older age. Here, we present a series of studies on cognitive and situational factors influencing pain processing and the efficacy of cognitive pain modulation on the behavioral and (neuro)physiological level, focusing on underlying neural mechanisms to gain insight in the changes of the aging brain associated with pain processing and pain modulation.
Ana María González Roldán will start presenting data from several electrophysiological studies examining how aging and chronic pain may mutually contribute to enhanced pain perception. Further expanding on chronic pain, Joukje Oosterman will present a study on the underlying neural mechanism of loss of control over pain in aging, a predictor for future chronic pain. She will focus on age-related changes in function and EEG-connectivity in brain circuits involved in pain processing in relation to top-down cognitive modulation of pain control. Turning to distraction from pain as a top-down inhibitory process, Marian van der Meulen will discuss the relationship between functional connectivity during resting state and the distraction effect size in younger and older healthy adults. The role of executive functions and age-related cognitive decline in distraction from pain is addressed by Angelika Dierolf, presenting results of an EEG study. Finally, Sven Philipsen will discuss the impact of acute stress on the efficacy of distraction from pain in young and older adults.
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PAIN PROCESSING IS DIFFERENTLY AFFEECTED BY CHRONIC PAIN AND AGING
Wed-A7-Talk VI-01
Presented by: Alejandro Dorado
Alejandro Dorado 1, Juan Lorenzo Terrasa 1, Marian Van der Meulen 2, Ana María Gonzalez-Roldán 1
1 Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience and Clinical Psychology, Research Institute of Health Sciences (IUNICS) and Balearic Islands Health Research Institute (IdISBa), University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), Palma, Spain, 2 Institute for Health and Behaviour, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Chronic pain in the older population is a growing public health concern. Despite this, no research has analysed electroencephalographical (EEG) correlates of painful and nonpainful stimulation processing in older people with chronic pain. We compared pain-related evoked potentials (PREPs) of 27 pain-free older participants and 24 older adults with musculoskeletal chronic pain (>60 years old), as well as 27 pain-free younger adults (18-25 years old). Participants received 30 trains of painful electrical stimulation to the thenar eminence of the non-dominant hand, individually adjusted to elicit an intensity of four on a 0-10 rating scale. In addition, 30 non-painful stimulus trains were presented. EEG data were analysed using a cluster-based permutation test (CBPT). We found no group differences in sensory and pain thresholds, neither in pain ratings. Both older participant groups showed decreased PREPs compared to young except in late positive potentials (350 to 500 milliseconds), where no differences between younger and older adults with chronic pain were found. Moreover, older participants with chronic pain showed enhanced PREPs from 160 to 500 milliseconds in comparison to healthy older adults. These increased amplitudes in late evoked potentials in the chronic pain group might reflect an augmented alarm/orienting response to pain stimulation. Altogether, our results suggest that plastic changes driven by suffering from long-lasting pain outweigh those resulting from the normal aging process when both coexist.

Supported by the Spanish Ministry (PID2019-110096GB-I00/AEI /10.13039/501100011033).
Keywords: Aging, chronic pain, pain perception, electroencephalography.
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