1. California State University, Fullerton
Four-Year Change in Cognitive Performance for Individuals over 50 with and without Chronic Pain
Laura Zettel-Watson1,2, Brian Follick1, Jessica M. Katschke1, Jacob Melendez1, Dana N. Rutledge3, C. Jessie Jones4, Barbara J. Cherry1,2
California State University, Fullerton
Departments of Psychology1, Gerontology2, School of Nursing3, Department of Health Science4

2. Introduction
Longitudinal research suggests cognitive decline with normal aging across domains (Small, Dixon, & McArdle, 2011)
Cross sectional research documents cognitive performance differences in older adults with chronic pain versus health controls (Cherry et al., 2012; Park et al., 2001)
Are there differences between these groups over time?

3. Chronic pain condition: Fibromyalgia (FM)
Pain at multiple points in body
2 to 5% of population across countries
80 to 90% women
Symptoms of pain, fatigue, stiffness, sleep problems, anxiety, depression, cognitive complaints
Comorbidities: metabolic syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome
Prevalence increases with increasing age (Ader, 2011; Crofford, 2012; Fibromyalgia Network [FN], 2011a; FN, 2011b; National Fibromyalgia Association [NFA], 2010c)
FM a model for other multi-symptom chronic conditions such as Gulf War Syndrome, PTSD (Yunus, 2007)

4. Hypothesis: Over a 4-year period, there would be differences/more declines in FM vs. normal older adults across cognitive domains

5. Method: Participants FM (n = 29) Non-FM (n = 44) Age in years
(M, SD, range)
63.0
71.7
Gender
Education
(M, SD)

6. Neuropsychological Measures (Time or Accuracy)
Method: Procedures
Neuropsychological Measures (Time or Accuracy)
Stroop Color Word Test
(RT)
Naming animals (60 s)
(# correct)
Digit Span Forward and Backward
Digit Symbol Substitution
Trails A and B
Everyday Problems Test (18 items) (#correct/time in minutes
Participants tested in individuals session lasting minutes by trained testers 4 years apart
Data analysis
Paired sample t-tests
Regression analyses controlling for age, gender and education

7. Results
Summary
Paired sample t-tests--most people saw a significant change in scores between 2008 and 2012 on most variables (demonstrated by * in Table 1).
Two overall models were marginally significant (Table 2).
Digit Span Backward: F(4, 67) = 2.19, R2 = .11, p = .079.
Everyday Problems: F(4, 66) = 2.07, R2 = .11, p = .095.

10. Conclusions
Older adults with FM did not differ from those without FM in terms of cognitive changes over the 4 year period.
THUS, FM individuals do not appear to be declining at a faster rate than healthy controls.
HOWEVER, FM participants’ rate of decline was comparable to healthy adults 8 to 10 years older, suggesting accelerated aging.

11. Selected References
Cherry, B.J., Zettel-Watson, L., Shimizu, R., Roberson, I., Rutledge, D.N., & Jones, C.J. (2012). Cognitive performance in women aged 50 years and older with and without fibromyalgia. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, doi: /geronb/gbs122 Park D.C., Glass J.M., Minear M., Crofford L.J. (2001). Cognitive function in fibromyalgia patients. Arthritis & Rheumatism,44, Yunus, M.B. (2007). Fibromyalgia and overlapping disorders: The unifying concept of central sensitivity syndromes. Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism, 36,