Centre for Pain IMPACT, Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), Randwick, New South Wales, Australia.
School of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia.
PLoS One. 2023 Jun 29;18(6):e0287192. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287192. eCollection 2023.
Pro-inflammatory molecules are thought to underpin the development of chronic low back pain (LBP). Although research has begun to explore the association between pro-inflammatory molecules in acute LBP and long-term outcome, no study has explored the role of anti-inflammatory molecules. We aimed to explore whether levels of systemic pro- and anti-inflammatory molecules 1) changed over a period of six months from the onset of acute LBP; 2) differed between people who were recovered (N = 11) and unrecovered (N = 24) from their episode of LBP at six months; 3) baseline psychological factors were related to inflammatory molecule serum concentrations at baseline, three and six months.
We retrospectively included participants with acute LBP included from a larger prospective trial and examined blood samples for the measurement of pro- and anti-inflammatory molecules and measures of pain, disability, and psychological factors at baseline, three and six months.
The serum concentrations of pro- and anti-inflammatory molecules did not differ over time when compared between participants who recovered and those who did not recover at six-month follow-up. At three months, the unrecovered group had higher interleukin (IL)-8 and IL-10 serum concentrations than the recovered group. Baseline psychological factors were not related to inflammatory molecules at any time point.
This exploratory study showed that levels of systemic inflammatory molecules did not change over the course of LBP, irrespective of whether people were recovered or unrecovered at six months. There was no relationship between acute-stage psychological factors and systemic inflammatory molecules. Further investigation is needed to elucidate the contribution of pro- and anti-inflammatory molecules to long-term LBP outcome.
炎症分子被认为是慢性下背痛（LBP）发展的基础。虽然研究已经开始探索急性 LBP 中促炎分子与长期结局之间的关系，但尚无研究探讨抗炎分子的作用。我们旨在探讨系统性促炎和抗炎分子水平是否：1）在急性 LBP 发作后六个月内发生变化；2）在六个月时从 LBP 发作中恢复（N=11）和未恢复（N=24）的人群之间存在差异；3）基线心理因素与炎症分子血清浓度在基线、三个月和六个月时相关。
我们回顾性纳入了来自更大前瞻性试验的急性 LBP 参与者，并在基线、三个月和六个月时检测了促炎和抗炎分子以及疼痛、残疾和心理因素的测量值。
与六个月时恢复和未恢复的参与者相比，在恢复和未恢复的参与者之间，在比较时，促炎和抗炎分子的血清浓度在时间上没有差异。在三个月时，未恢复组的白细胞介素（IL）-8 和 IL-10 血清浓度高于恢复组。基线心理因素与任何时间点的炎症分子均无相关性。
这项探索性研究表明，无论六个月时是否恢复，系统性炎症分子水平在 LBP 过程中均未发生变化。急性阶段心理因素与系统性炎症分子之间没有关系。需要进一步研究阐明促炎和抗炎分子对长期 LBP 结局的贡献。
