ArticlePLoS genetics2019
Genome-wide association study of multisite chronic pain in UK Biobank.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 163 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
163 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 270 citations in OpenAlex.
- Multi-ancestry investigation of the genomics of erectile dysfunction.Nature communications · 2025Pooled it
- Genome-wide meta-analysis conducted in three large biobanks expands the genetic landscape of lumbar disc herniations.Nature communications · 2024Pooled it
- A multi-ancestry genetic study of pain intensity in 598,339 veterans.Nature medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Multi-ancestry genome-wide association study of cannabis use disorder yields insight into disease biology and public health implications.Nature genetics · 2023Pooled it
- Genome wide association joint analysis reveals 99 risk loci for pain susceptibility and pleiotropic relationships with psychiatric, metabolic, and immunological traits.PLoS genetics · 2023Pooled it
- GWAS Meta-Analysis of Suicide Attempt: Identification of 12 Genome-Wide Significant Loci and Implication of Genetic Risks for Specific Health Factors.The American journal of psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- The genetic basis of endometriosis and comorbidity with other pain and inflammatory conditions.Nature genetics · 2023Pooled it
- Exploring polygenic contributors to subgroups of comorbid conditions in autism spectrum disorder.Scientific reports · 2022Pooled it
- Sex-stratified genome-wide association study of multisite chronic pain in UK Biobank.PLoS genetics · 2021Pooled it
- Polygenic risk for alcohol consumption and multisite chronic pain: Associations with ad lib drinking behavior.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2023Trial
- Associations of Mechanistically Partitioned Type 2 Diabetes Polygenic Risk With Psychiatric and Related Phenotypes in UK Biobank.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Article
- Prevalence of chronic pain among U.S. children with neurodevelopmental disorders.Pain reports · 2026Article
- A neurogenetic blueprint for fibromyalgia.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2026Article
- Cerebrospinal Fluid Metabolites Mediate Immune Cell Effects on Chronic Pain.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Article
- Dynamic neuro-immune regulation of psychiatric risk loci in human neurons.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Dopamine transporter gene (Pain reports · 2026Article
- Review
- The genetics of fibromyalgia and its relationships to psychiatric and medical traits.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Exome-wide association study reveals common and rare coding variants shaping chronic pain in 327,642 UK biobank participants.Genome medicine · 2026Article
- Dorsal horn DCC amplification loop induced by endplate osteoclasts generates chronic nociplastic low back pain in male mice.Nature communications · 2026Article
103 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Chronic pain is highly prevalent worldwide and represents a significant socioeconomic and public health burden. Several aspects of chronic pain, for example back pain and a severity-related phenotype 'chronic pain grade', have been shown previously to be complex heritable traits with a polygenic component. Additional pain-related phenotypes capturing aspects of an individual's overall sensitivity to experiencing and reporting chronic pain have also been suggested as a focus for investigation. We made use of a measure of the number of sites of chronic pain in individuals within the UK general population. This measure, termed Multisite Chronic Pain (MCP), is a complex trait and its genetic architecture has not previously been investigated. To address this, we carried out a large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) of MCP in ~380,000 UK Biobank participants. Our findings were consistent with MCP having a significant polygenic component, with a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) heritability of 10.2%. In total 76 independent lead SNPs at 39 risk loci were associated with MCP. Additional gene-level association analyses identified neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity, nervous system development, cell-cycle progression and apoptosis genes as enriched for genetic association with MCP. Genetic correlations were observed between MCP and a range of psychiatric, autoimmune and anthropometric traits, including major depressive disorder (MDD), asthma and Body Mass Index (BMI). Furthermore, in Mendelian randomisation (MR) analyses a causal effect of MCP on MDD was observed. Additionally, a polygenic risk score (PRS) for MCP was found to significantly predict chronic widespread pain (pain all over the body), indicating the existence of genetic variants contributing to both of these pain phenotypes. Overall, our findings support the proposition that chronic pain involves a strong nervous system component with implications for our understanding of the physiology of chronic pain. These discoveries may also inform the future development of novel treatment approaches.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.