title: The extent of neurocognitive dysfunction in a multidisciplinary pain centre population. Is there a relation between reported and tested neuropsychological functioning?
abstract: Patients with chronic nonmalignant pain syndromes frequently report cognitive dysfunction, in particular with respect to concentration and attention. Such complaints have, in general, been attributed to depressive symptoms. In this study we showed that cognitive complaints in chronic pain patients are significantly associated with objective test performance in the area of inhibitory control after partialling out degree of depressive symptoms. Furthermore, about 20% of the patients performed below cut-off for clinically significant impairment on tests of basic neurocognitive functioning. A larger proportion of patients with generalized and neuropathic pain performed below this cut-off, whereas patients with localized pain exhibited impaired function to a lesser degree. Chronic pain patients receiving opioids did not perform worse than patients off opioid treatment. Systematic assessment of basic neurocognitive functions in centres treating chronic pain patients is warranted.
authors.affiliation: National Competence Centre for Complex Symptom Disorders, St. Olav's University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway. n.i.landro@psykologi.uio.no
authors.forename: Nils Inge
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Landrø
authors.forename: Egil A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Fors
authors.forename: Lindis L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Våpenstad
authors.forename: Øyvor
authors.initials: Ø
authors.lastname: Holthe
authors.forename: Tore C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Stiles
authors.forename: Petter C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Borchgrevink
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D018710:Pain Clinics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000187:drug effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid