SynthesisEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2022
Causal effects of psychosocial factors on chronic back pain: a bidirectional Mendelian randomisation study.
Synthesis in 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, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
23 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Associations between lifestyle-related risk factors and back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of Mendelian randomization studies.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2024Pooled 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
- The association between age at menarche and subsequent risk of chronic pain.Frontiers in global women's health · 2026Review
- Introduction to a Special Issue Describing an Observational Cohort of Adults With Chronic Low Back Pain.JOR spine · 2025Article
- Understanding the Comorbidities Among Psychiatric Disorders, Chronic Low Back Pain, and Spinal Degenerative Disease Using Observational and Genetically Informed Analyses.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2025Article
- Chronic low back pain causal risk factors identified by Mendelian randomization: a cross-sectional cohort analysis.The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society · 2025Observational
- Integrating HiTOP and RDoC frameworks part II: shared and distinct biological mechanisms of externalizing and internalizing psychopathology.Psychological medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Integration of Conventional and Virtual Reality Approaches in Augmented Reality for Theory-Based Psychoeducational Intervention Design for Chronic Low Back Pain: Scoping Review.Interactive journal of medical research · 2025Review
- Feasibility and user experience of augmented reality psychoeducation and mindfulness body scan for chronic low back pain.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Chronic Pain and Substance Use Disorders: A Brief Narrative Review of Genetic, Neurobiological, and Environmental Contributions to Comorbidity.Journal of psychiatry and brain science · 2025Article
- Causal Relationship Between Psychosocial Factors and Neck Pain: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Mendelian Randomization Analysis Identifies Causal Effects of Multi-Site Chronic Pain on Obstructive Sleep Apnea.Nature and science of sleep · 2025Article
- Chronic Low Back Pain Causal Risk Factors Identified by Mendelian Randomization: a Cross-Sectional Cohort Analysis.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2024Article
- No evidence for causal effects of C-reactive protein (CRP) on chronic pain conditions: a Mendelian randomization study.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2024Article
- A Multivariate Genome-Wide Association Study Reveals Neural Correlates and Common Biological Mechanisms of Psychopathology Spectra.Research square · 2024Article
- The Combined Effect Between Sleep Disorders and Depression Symptoms on Chronic Low Back Pain: A Cross-Sectional Study of NHANES.Journal of pain research · 2024Article
- Toward the Identification of Distinct Phenotypes: Research Protocol for the Low Back Pain Biological, Biomechanical, and Behavioral (LB3P) Cohort Study and the BACPAC Mechanistic Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2023Article
- Development and Replication of a Genome-Wide Polygenic Risk Score for Chronic Back Pain.Journal of personalized medicine · 2023Article
- Dried fruit intake causally protects against low back pain: A Mendelian randomization study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
Abstract
purposeRisk factors for chronic back pain (CBP) may share underlying genetic factors, making them difficult to study using conventional methods. We conducted a bi-directional Mendelian randomisation (MR) study to examine the causal effects of risk factors (education, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, sleep and depression) on CBP and the causal effect of CBP on the same risk factors.
methodsGenetic instruments for risk factors and CBP were obtained from the largest published genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of risk factor traits conducted in individuals of European ancestry. We used inverse weighted variance meta-analysis (IVW), Causal Analysis Using Summary Effect (CAUSE) and sensitivity analyses to examine evidence for causal associations. We interpreted exposure-outcome associations as being consistent with a causal relationship if results with IVW or CAUSE were statistically significant after accounting for multiple statistical testing (p < 0.003), and the direction and magnitude of effect estimates were concordant between IVW, CAUSE, and sensitivity analyses.
resultsWe found evidence for statistically significant causal associations between greater education (OR per 4.2 years of schooling = 0.54), ever smoking (OR = 1.27), greater alcohol consumption (OR = 1.29 per consumption category increase) and major depressive disorder (OR = 1.41) and risk of CBP. Conversely, we found evidence for significant causal associations between CBP and greater alcohol consumption (OR = 1.19) and between CBP and smoking (OR = 1.21). Other relationships did not meet our pre-defined criteria for causal association.
conclusionFewer years of schooling, smoking, greater alcohol consumption, and major depressive disorder increase the risk of CBP. CBP increases the risk of greater alcohol consumption and smoking.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.