Abstract # 3121 Longitudinal analysis of inflammatory, psychological, and sleep-related factors following an acute low back pain episode—the good, the bad, and the ugly

This study aimed to determine whether systemic cytokines/CRP during acute LBP were associated with recovery at 6 months. Acute LBP (<2 weeks since onset) and pain-free participants provided blood for assessment of CRP, TNF, IL-6 and IL-1β after completing questionnaires related to pain/disability, sleep and psychological status. LBP participants repeated measurements at 6 months. Biomarkers were compared at baseline between LBP and control participants, and longitudinally (baseline/6 months) between unrecovered (⩾ pain and disability), partially recovered (<pain and/or disability) and recovered (no pain and disability) participants at 6 months. We assessed baseline patterns of inflammatory, psychological, sleep and pain data using hierarchical clustering and related the clusters to recovery (%change in pain) at 6 months. Baseline CRP was higher in acute LBP than controls. In LBP, baseline CRP was higher in the recovered than non-recovered groups. Conversely, TNF was higher at both time-points in the non-recovered than recovered groups. Two subgroups were identified that associated with more (“inflammatory and poor sleep”) or less (“high TNF and depression”) recovery. In summary, high inflammation (CRP/IL-6) was associated with good recovery, but specific elevation of TNF, with or without depressive symptoms, was associated with bad recovery. Depression and TNF may have a two-way relationship.
Source: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity - Category: Neurology Source Type: research