Bidirectional associations between body mass and bodily pain among middle-aged and older adults

A Longitudinal Study of the Bidirectional Temporal Dynamics Between Body Mass Index and Biological Aging

BACKGROUND

Obesity and aging share biological processes, but their relationship remains unclear, especially in late life. Understanding how body mass index (BMI) and biological aging influence each other can guide strategies to reduce age- and obesity-related health risks. We examined the bidirectional, longitudinal association between changes in BMI and biological aging, measured by frailty index (FI) and functional aging index (FAI), across late life.

METHODS

This longitudinal cohort study used data from the Swedish Twin Registry substudies, GENDER, OCTO-Twin and SATSA, collected via in-person assessments from 1986 to 2014 at 2- to 4-year intervals. We analysed 6216-6512 evaluations from 1902 to 1976 Swedish twins. Dual change score models were applied to assess the bidirectional, longitudinal association between BMI and FI or FAI from ages 60.0-91.9. FI measured physiological aging, while FAI assessed functional aging through a composite score of functional abilities.

RESULTS

At first measurement, mean age was 74 ± 8, and 41% were males. BMI-FI relationship was bidirectional (p value ≤ 0.001): Higher BMI predicted a greater increase in FI over time (coupling effect [γ] = 0.86, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.65-1.06, p value ≤ 0.001), and higher FI predicted steeper decline in BMI (γ = -0.04, 95% CI = -0.05 to -0.03, p value ≤ 0.001). When including coupling from FI, BMI showed a nonlinear trajectory with a mean intercept of 26.32 kg/m2 (95% CI = 25.76-26.88), declining more rapidly after age 75. When including BMI coupling, FI increased from a mean intercept of 7.91% (95% CI = 6.41-9.42), with steeper growth from ages 60-75. BMI-FAI relationship was unidirectional (p value ≤ 0.001): Higher FAI predicted a steeper BMI decline (γ = -0.02, 95% CI = -0.02 to -0.01, p value ≤ 0.001). By including FAI coupling, BMI had a mean intercept of 26.10 kg/m2 (95% CI = 25.47-26.74), declining rapidly after age 75. FAI increased exponentially from a mean intercept of 36.49 (95% CI = 34.54-38.43).

CONCLUSIONS

Higher BMI predicted a steeper increase in FI, substantiating the hypothesis that obesity accelerates biological aging. Higher biological aging, measured as FI and FAI, drove a steeper BMI decline in late life, signalling that late-life weight loss may result from accelerated aging. Higher BMI may accelerate aspects of the aging process, and the aging process, in turn, accelerates late-life BMI decline, necessitating an integrated approach to manage both obesity and unintentional weight loss among older adults.

Indirect costs constitute a major part of the total economic burden of obesity: a Finnish population-based cohort study

BACKGROUND

The growing prevalence of overweight and obesity (OB) poses a considerable economic burden worldwide. However, nationally representative, detailed analyses estimating the total burden of OB are few. We characterized direct, indirect, and total costs of overweight and obesity in a population-based cohort of Finnish adult individuals and evaluated the additional total costs attributed to overweight and obesity.

METHODS

The study cohort included 5,587 randomly-selected individuals (≥18 years of age) who participated in the national FinHealth 2017 health examination survey. The main study group consisted of working-age individuals (18-64 years of age; n = 3,914). Individual-level data were collected from the nationwide registers by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (healthcare resource utilization), Social Insurance Institution of Finland (prescription medications, sick leaves, disability pensions, rehabilitation periods), and Statistics Finland (deaths). Indirect costs were calculated using the Human Capital Approach, and direct costs were based on the medication purchases and healthcare resource use.

RESULTS

The mean annual indirect costs were €1,683 (SD, €6,395) per person for the working-age individuals with normal-weight (NW), €2,957 (€8,797) for individuals with overweight (OW), €4,488 (€11,607) for individuals with class I obesity (OBI), and €4,654 (€11,383) for individuals with class II-III obesity (OBII-III). The mean annual total (direct + indirect) costs were €3,314 (SD, €8,358) per person in the NW, €4,902 (€10,747) in the OW, €7,129 (€14,313) in the OBI, and €7,372 (€14,423) in the OBII-III groups. Compared with individuals with NW, OW was associated with 31% (rate ratio, RR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.09-1.58; p = 0.005), OBI with 83% (RR, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.46-2.28; p < 0.001), and OBII-III with 95% (RR, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.48-2.55; p < 0.001) higher total costs in working-age individuals. When adjusted for age and sex, the predicted total annual cost difference per person was €1,124 for OW, €3,002 for OBI, and €3,443 for OBII-III compared with a person with NW.

CONCLUSIONS

Indirect costs constitute a major part of the total costs of obesity in the working-age population. Compared with NW, the total costs are significantly higher not only for severe obesity, but also for OW and OBI.

The role of obesity and adipose tissue dysfunction in osteoarthritis pain

Obesity has a pivotal and multifaceted role in pain associated with osteoarthritis (OA), extending beyond the mechanistic influence of BMI. It exerts its effects both directly and indirectly through various modifiable risk factors associated with OA-related pain. Adipose tissue dysfunction is highly involved in OA-related pain through local and systemic inflammation, immune dysfunction, and the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and adipokines. Adipose tissue dysfunction is intricately connected with metabolic syndrome, which independently exerts specific effects on OA-related pain, distinct from its association with BMI. The interplay among obesity, adipose tissue dysfunction and metabolic syndrome influences OA-related pain through diverse pain mechanisms, including nociceptive pain, peripheral sensitization and central sensitization. These complex interactions contribute to the heightened pain experience observed in individuals with OA and obesity. In addition, pain management strategies are less efficient in individuals with obesity. Importantly, therapeutic interventions targeting obesity and metabolic syndrome hold promise in managing OA-related pain. A deeper understanding of the intricate relationship between obesity, metabolic syndrome and OA-related pain is crucial and could have important implications for improving pain management and developing innovative therapeutic options in OA.

Chronic pain in older adults with disabilities is associated with fall-related injuries: a prospective cohort study

PURPOSE

Previous studies have shown an association between chronic pain and the occurrence of falls in community-dwelling older adults; however, the association between chronic pain and fall-related injuries in older adults with disabilities is unclear. This study aimed to determine the association between chronic pain and fall-related injuries in older adults with disabilities.

METHODS

This 24-month prospective cohort study included older adults aged 65 years or older using Japanese long-term care insurance services. Chronic pain, defined as "pain that has persisted for more than three months to date," was assessed using a face-to-face questionnaire. Fall-related injuries, defined as "injuries requiring hospitalization or outpatient treatment due to a fall," were assessed using a fall calendar. Data were analyzed using a Cox proportional hazards model, with fall-related injury as the dependent variable, chronic pain as the independent variable, and confounders as covariates.

RESULTS

Among 133 included participants, 15 experienced fall-related injuries. After adjusting for age and sex as covariates, chronic pain was significantly associated with fall-related injuries (hazard ratio: 5.487, 95% confidence interval: 1.211-24.853, p = 0.027).

CONCLUSIONS

Chronic pain was associated with fall-related injuries in older adults with disabilities. In this population, a greater focus should be placed on treating chronic pain to reduce the occurrence of falls.

Using a Whole Health Approach to Build Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Personal Health Plans for Veterans with Chronic Pain

Chronic pain affects over 50 million Americans per year and costs society billions of dollars annually. It is widely accepted that the biomedical model is outdated and research on the biopsychosocial model of chronic pain has increased in recent years, concurrent with investigations into self-management of chronic pain. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has incorporated both of these approaches into their Whole Health System. This work describes the VHA Whole Health System, reviews the literature on alignment between the Whole Health System's Circle of Health and chronic pain, and explains how the VHA Whole Health model may be used as a method for organizing self-management strategies within a personal health plan in the context of chronic pain. Given the infusion of nurses throughout the healthcare system, nurses are in a unique position to champion this biopsychosocial-spiritual approach to care.

Weight change in a national cohort of U.S. Military Veterans engaged in medication treatment for opioid use disorder

Medication treatments for opioid use disorder (MOUD) save lives and improve outcomes for countless individuals. However, data suggest the potential for significant weight gain during methadone treatment and little is known about weight change during buprenorphine treatment. Using Veteran Health Administration administrative data from fiscal year 2017 to fiscal year 2019, two cohorts were created: 1) Veterans diagnosed with opioid use disorder (OUD) taking methadone (N = 1425); and 2) Veterans diagnosed with OUD taking buprenorphine (N = 3756). Linear mixed models were used to analyze weight change during the first MOUD treatment episode in the observation period. Random slopes and intercepts were included in the model to estimate variation in BMI across individuals and time. The data revealed a slight upward trend in BMI over the course of treatment. Specifically, a daily increase of 0.004 for Veterans in methadone treatment and 0.002 for Veterans in buprenorphine treatment was observed. This translates to a gain of about 10 pounds over the course of 1 year of methadone treatment and 5 pounds for 1 year of buprenorphine treatment for a Veteran of average height and weight. The amount of weight gain in methadone treatment is significantly less than other published findings, but nonetheless indicates that assessment and discussions between patients and providers related to weight may be warranted.

Multisite chronic pain as a causal risk factor for coronary artery disease: findings from Mendelian randomization

ABSTRACT

The potential consequences of the number of chronic pain sites (referred to multisite chronic pain) on the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain unclear. We attempted to investigate the causality of multisite chronic pain with CVDs and its possible causal mediators. Using summary genome-wide association statistics, two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were performed to assess whether multisite chronic pain has a causal effect on the 3 CVDs including coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation, and stroke. We then conducted MR mediation analyses to establish whether body mass index (BMI), smoking, and depression causally mediate any association. Genetic liability to multisite chronic pain was associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease (odds ratio [OR] 1.52, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.19-1.95 per one increase in the number of pain locations) but not with atrial fibrillation or stroke. We also found positive causal effects of multisite chronic pain on BMI, smoking, and depression and causal effects of BMI, smoking, and depression on coronary artery disease. In multivariable MR analyses, the excess risk of coronary artery disease was attenuated after adjusting for BMI (OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.05-1.93), smoking (OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.11-2.00), depression (OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.03-2.01), and 3 risk factors combined (OR 1.34, 95% CI 0.88-2.05). Our findings demonstrated that multisite chronic pain led to higher risk of coronary artery disease, which is partly mediated through BMI, smoking, and depression.

Multisite chronic pain and the risk of autoimmune diseases: A Mendelian randomization study

Background

Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that an association between chronic pain and autoimmune diseases (AIDs). Nevertheless, it is unclear whether these associations refer to a causal relationship. We used a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) method to determine the causal relationship between chronic pain and AIDs.

Methods

We assessed genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics for chronic pain [multisite chronic pain (MCP) and chronic widespread pain (CWP)], and eight common AIDs, namely, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), celiac disease (CeD), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus Erythematosus (SLE), type 1 diabetes (T1D) and psoriasis. Summary statistics data were from publicly available and relatively large-scale GWAS meta-analyses to date. The two-sample MR analyses were first performed to identify the causal effect of chronic pain on AIDs. The two-step MR and multivariable MR were used to determine if mediators (BMI and smoking) causally mediated any connection and to estimate the proportion of the association mediated by these factors combined.

Results

With the utilization of MR analysis, multisite chronic pain was associated with a higher risk of MS [odds ratio (OR) = 1.59, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.01-2.49, P = 0.044] and RA (OR = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.06-2.77, P = 0.028). However, multisite chronic pain had no significant effect on ALS (OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 0.92-1.71, P = 0.150), CeD (OR = 0.24, 95% CI = 0.02-3.64, P = 0.303), IBD (OR = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.09-2.27, P = 0.338), SLE (OR = 1.78, 95% CI = 0.82-3.88, P = 0.144), T1D (OR = 1.15, 95% CI = 0.65-2.02, P = 0.627) or Psoriasis (OR = 1.59, 95% CI = 0.22-11.26, P = 0.644). We also found positive causal effects of MCP on BMI and causal effects of BMI on MS and RA. Moreover, there were no causal connections between genetically predicted chronic widespread pain and the risk of most types of AIDs disease.

Conclusion

Our MR analysis implied a causal relationship between MCP and MS/RA, and the effect of MCP on MS and RA may be partially mediated by BMI.