Chronic musculoskeletal pain is known to be associated with cognitive decline and dementia risk in older adults. However, the mechanism behind this association is poorly understood. A new study has investigated whether knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is associated with brain aging using an MRI-based age model. The study involving 9,344 individuals demonstrated that KOA can significantly increase brain aging in patients compared to healthy individuals.
The accelerated brain aging was associated with the hippocampus, which also helped predict declining memory and dementia in patients. In addition, the SLC39A8 gene expressed predominantly in microglial cells and astrocytes was also associated with KOA and accelerated brain aging. These findings confirm the association of KOA and accelerated brain aging and suggest that brain aging markers can be used to predict the risk of dementia and memory…
