Loading...
Pain interferes with cognition, but does cognitive impairment affect one's experience of pain? In a carefully conducted study, researchers examined patients who had either total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis or breast surgery for cancer. Assessments were made of cognition (executive functioning; selective and divided attention), pain-related cognition, trait anxiety, and coping approaches 1 month before surgery; state anxiety and depression 1 day before surgery; and pain 1 day before surgery for the knee group and 2 days after surgery in the breast group. Patients also reported pain levels at 6 and 12 months postsurgery. Patients with clinically significant or unstable psychiatric or somatic conditions were excluded.
Of the 189 partic…