Institute for Trauma Recovery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
Department of Anesthesiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
J Burn Care Res. 2022 Jan 5;43(1):109-114. doi: 10.1093/jbcr/irab071.
Chronic pain is a significant comorbidity of burn injury affecting up to 60% of survivors. Currently, no treatments are available to prevent chronic pain after burn injury. Accumulating evidence suggests that omega-3 fatty acids (O3FAs) improve symptoms across a range of painful conditions. In this study, we evaluated whether low peritraumatic levels of O3FA predict greater pain severity during the year after burn injury. Burn survivors undergoing skin autograft were recruited from three participating burn centers. Plasma O3FA (n = 77) levels were assessed in the early aftermath of burn injury using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry, and pain severity was assessed via the 0 to 10 numeric rating scale for 1 year following burn injury. Repeated-measures linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between peritraumatic O3FA concentrations and pain severity during the year following burn injury. Peritraumatic O3FA concentration and chronic pain severity were inversely related; lower levels of peritraumatic O3FAs predicted worse pain outcomes (β = -0.002, P = .020). Future studies are needed to evaluate biological mechanisms mediating this association and to assess the ability of O3FAs to prevent chronic pain following burn injury.
慢性疼痛是烧伤后影响高达 60%幸存者的一种严重合并症。目前，尚无预防烧伤后慢性疼痛的治疗方法。越来越多的证据表明，ω-3 脂肪酸（O3FA）可改善多种疼痛病症的症状。在这项研究中，我们评估了低创伤期 O3FA 水平是否可预测烧伤后一年内疼痛严重程度的增加。从三个参与烧伤中心招募了正在接受皮肤自体移植的烧伤幸存者。使用液相色谱/质谱法在烧伤后早期评估血浆 O3FA（n = 77）水平，并在烧伤后 1 年内通过 0 到 10 的数字评分量表评估疼痛严重程度。使用重复测量线性回归分析评估创伤期 O3FA 浓度与烧伤后一年内疼痛严重程度之间的关联。创伤期 O3FA 浓度与慢性疼痛严重程度呈负相关；较低的创伤期 O3FA 水平预示着更差的疼痛结局（β = -0.002，P =.020）。需要进一步的研究来评估介导这种关联的生物学机制，并评估 O3FA 预防烧伤后慢性疼痛的能力。
