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Background: Cognitive processing speed is important for performing everyday activities in persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, its role in daily function has not been examined while simultaneously accounting for contributions of Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk biomarkers. We examine the relationships of processing speed and genetic and neuroimaging biomarkers to composites of daily function, mobility, and driving.Method: We used baseline data from 103 participants on the MCI/mild dementia spectrum from the Applying Programs to Preserve Skills trial. Linear regression models examined relationships of processing speed, structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and genetic risk alleles for AD to composites of performance-based instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), community mobility, and on-road driving evaluations.Results: In multivariable models, processing speed and the brain MRI neurodegeneration biomarker Spatial Pattern of Abnormality for Recognition of Early Alzheimer's disease (SPARE-AD) were significantly associated with functional and mobility composite performance. Better processing speed and younger age were associated with on-road driving ratings. Genetic risk markers, left hippocampal atrophy, and white matter lesion volumes were not significant correlates of these abilities. Processing speed had a strong positive association with IADL function (p < .001), mobility (p < .001), and driving (p = .002).Conclusions: Cognitive processing speed is strongly and consistently associated with critical daily functions in persons with MCI in models including genetic and neuroimaging biomarkers of AD risk. SPARE-AD scores also significantly correlate with IADL performance and mobility. Results highlight the central role of processing speed in everyday task performance among persons with MCI/mild dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Non-Hispanic black (NHB) individuals have increased risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) relative to non-Hispanic whites (NHW). Ethnicity/race can serve as a proxy sociodemographic variable for a complex representation of sociocultural and environmental factors. Chronic pain is a form of stress with high prevalence and sociodemographic disparities. Chronic pain is linked to lower cognition and accelerated biological aging.Objective: The purpose of this study is to seek understanding of potential cognitive and temporal lobe structural brain AD vulnerabilities based on chronic pain stage and ethnicity/race.Methods: Participants included 147 community dwelling NHB and NHW adults without dementia between 45-85 years old who had or were at risk of knee osteoarthritis. All participants received an MRI (3T Philips), the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and assessment of clinical knee pain stage.Results: There were ethnic/race group differences in MoCA scores but no relationships with chronic knee pain stage. Ethnicity/race moderated the relationship between AD-related temporal lobe thickness and chronic pain stage with quadratic patterns suggesting thinner cortex in high chronic pain stage NHB adults.Conclusion: There appear to be complex relationships between chronic knee pain stage, temporal lobe cortex, and sociodemographic variables. Specifically, NHB participants without dementia but with high chronic knee pain stage appeared to have thinner temporal cortex in areas associated with AD. Understanding the effects of sociocultural and socioeconomic factors on health outcomes is the first step to challenging the disparities in healthcare that now appear to link disease conditions to neurodegenerative processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic pain is often measured with a severity score that overlooks its spatial distribution across the body. This widespread pain is believed to be a marker of centralization, a central nervous system process that decouples pain perception from nociceptive input. Here, we investigated whether centralization is manifested at the level of the brain using data from 1079 participants in the Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Chronic Pelvic Pain Research Network (MAPP) study. Participants with a clinical diagnosis of urological chronic pelvic pain syndrome (UCPPS) were compared to pain-free controls and patients with fibromyalgia, the prototypical centralized pain disorder. Participants completed questionnaires capturing pain severity, function, and a body map of pain. A subset (UCPPS N = 110; fibromyalgia N = 23; healthy control N = 49) underwent functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging. Patients with UCPPS reported pain ranging from localized (pelvic) to widespread (throughout the body). Patients with widespread UCPPS displayed increased brain gray matter volume and functional connectivity involving sensorimotor and insular cortices (P < 0.05 corrected). These changes translated across disease diagnoses as identical outcomes were present in patients with fibromyalgia but not pain-free controls. Widespread pain was also associated with reduced physical and mental function independent of pain severity. Brain pathology in patients with centralized pain is related to pain distribution throughout the body. These patients may benefit from interventions targeting the central nervous system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]