Aging is known to affect nociceptive processing, e.g., the ability to inhibit pain. This study aims to investigate whether pain responses in older individuals are associated with prefrontal characteristics, namely (i) executive functioning performance and (ii) structural brain variations in the prefrontal cortex. Heat and pressure stimuli were applied to assess pressure pain sensitivity and endogenous pain inhibition in 46 healthy older individuals. Executive functioning performance was assessed in three domains (i.e., cognitive inhibition, shifting, and updating) and structural brain variations were assessed in both gray and white matter. Overall pain responses were significantly associated with the executive functioning domains cognitive inhibition and shifting. However, no specific type of pain response showed an especially strong association. Endogenous pain inhibition specifically showed a significant association with gray matter volume in the prefrontal cortex and with variations in white matter structure of tracts connecting the prefrontal cortex with the periaqueductal gray. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that these variations in the prefrontal cortex can explain variance in pain inhibition beyond what can be explained by executive functioning. This might indicate that known deficits in pain inhibition in older individuals are associated with structural variations in prefrontal areas.

中文翻译：

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老年人的疼痛处理及其与前额叶特征的关系。

已知老化会影响伤害感受过程，例如抑制疼痛的能力。这项研究旨在调查老年人的疼痛反应是否与前额叶特征有关，即（i）执行功能表现和（ii）前额叶皮层的结构性大脑变异。应用热和压力刺激来评估46名健康老年人的压力疼痛敏感性和内源性疼痛抑制。在三个领域（即认知抑制，转移和更新）中评估了执行功能表现，并在灰色和白色物质中评估了大脑的结构变异。总体疼痛反应与执行功能域的认知抑制和转移显着相关。但是，没有特定类型的疼痛反应显示出特别强烈的关联。内源性疼痛抑制作用特别显示与额叶前额叶皮层中的灰质体积以及连接额叶前皮层与导水管周围灰质的管道白质结构的变化显着相关。分层回归分析表明，前额叶皮层中的这些变化可以解释疼痛抑制的差异，而执行功能无法解释这些差异。这可能表明已知的老年人疼痛抑制缺陷与前额叶区域的结构变化有关。分层回归分析表明，前额叶皮层中的这些变化可以解释疼痛抑制的差异，而执行功能无法解释这些差异。这可能表明已知的老年人疼痛抑制缺陷与前额叶区域的结构变化有关。分层回归分析表明，前额叶皮层中的这些变化可以解释疼痛抑制的差异，而执行功能无法解释这些差异。这可能表明已知的老年人疼痛抑制缺陷与前额叶区域的结构变化有关。