ArticleRheumatology (Oxford, England)2021
An association between chronic widespread pain and the gut microbiome.
Article in Rheumatology (Oxford, England), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 82 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Correlation between the Altered Gut Microbiome and Lifestyle Interventions in Chronic Widespread Pain Patients: A Systematic Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Pooled it
- Differences in Alpha Diversity of Gut Microbiota in Neurological Diseases.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Enterochromaffin Cells: Sentinels to Gut Microbiota in Hyperalgesia?Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Pooled it
- The Effect of Multiprobiotics on Memory and Attention in Fibromyalgia: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- Prevalence of Chronic Pain and Associated Factors Among Nursing Students in Heilongjiang Province, China: A Cross-Sectional Study.Nursing open · 2026Article
- Association Between Pain Subtypes and Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson's Disease.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Oral and Gut Health, (Neuro) Inflammation, and Central Sensitization in Chronic Pain: A Narrative Review of Mechanisms, Treatment Opportunities, and Research Agenda.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Exploring gut microbiota alterations and their associations with clinical symptoms in fibromyalgia.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Microbiome impacts surgical outcomes- comparison of gut microbiome dysbiosis in patients undergoing lumbar microdiscectomy: results from the MISO pilot study.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2025Article
- Gut Microbiota in Adults with Chronic Widespread Pain: A Systematic Review.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Modulation of Gut Bacterial and Fungal Microbiota in Fibromyalgia Patients Following a Carb-Free Oloproteic Diet: Evidence for Candida Suppression and Symptom Improvement.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Fecal Microbiome in Women With Fibromyalgia: Functional Composition and Symptom Correlations.ACR open rheumatology · 2025Article
- A Narrative Hypothesis: The Important Role of Gut Microbiota in the Modulation of Effort Tolerance in Endurance Athletes.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Article
- Deficiency of intestinal alkaline phosphatase affects behavior and microglia activity in mice.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2025Article
- Gut Microbiota: A Modulator and Therapeutic Target for Chronic Pain.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- Gene Expression Correlates with Disability and Pain Intensity in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain and Modic Changes in a Sex-Specific Manner.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- The brain-gut axis and chronic pain: mechanisms and therapeutic opportunities.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Review
- Distinctive salivary oral microbiome in patients with burning mouth syndrome depending on pain intensity compared to healthy subjects.Journal of dental sciences · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesChronic widespread musculoskeletal pain (CWP) is a characteristic symptom of fibromyalgia, which has been shown to be associated with an altered gut microbiome. Microbiome studies to date have not examined the milder CWP phenotype specifically nor have they explored the role of raised BMI. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the microbiome is abnormal in CWP.
methodsCWP was assessed using a standardized screening questionnaire in female volunteers from the TwinsUK cohort including 113 CWP cases and 1623 controls. The stool microbiome was characterized using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and amplicon sequence variants, and associations with CWP examined using linear mixed-effects models adjusting for BMI, age, diet, family relatedness and technical factors.
resultsAlpha diversity was significantly lower in CWP cases than controls (Mann-Whitney test, P-values 2.3e-04 and 1.2e-02, for Shannon and Simpson indices respectively). The species Coprococcus comes was significantly depleted in CWP cases (Padj = 3.04e-03). A genome-wide association study (GWAS) performed for C. comes in TwinsUK followed by meta-analysis with three Dutch cohorts (total n = 3521) resulted in nine suggestive regions, with the most convincing on chromosome 4 near the TRAM1L1 gene (rs76957229, P = 7.4e-8). A Mendelian randomization study based on the results of the GWAS did not support a causal role for C. comes on the development of CWP.
conclusionsWe have demonstrated reduced diversity in the microbiome in CWP, indicating an involvement of the gut microbiota in CWP; prospectively the microbiome may offer therapeutic opportunities for this condition.
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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.