The presence of persistent pain is linked to an increased risk of accelerated memory decline and dementia in older individuals, according to a population-based cohort study with over 10,000 participants. Elizabeth Whitlock and colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco, USA recruited 10,065 individuals who were aged ≥62 years in the year 2000. In this population, persistent pain — as ascertained by interviews conducted in 1998 and 2000 — was found to be associated with a significant increase in the rate of memory decline and the probability of developing dementia over a 10-year follow-up period. The precise nature of this relationship remains unclear, but the authors propose that persistent pain could aid the identification of individuals who are at elevated risk of cognitive decline and dementia.