SynthesisEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2023
The importance of inflammatory biomarkers in non-specific acute and chronic low back pain: a systematic review.
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, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
49 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
- Clinical efficacy of exercise therapy for lumbar disc herniation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Core stability versus postural control training for pain, disability, and sensorimotor function in chronic non-specific low back pain.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Baseline characteristics of participants in the Biomarkers for Evaluating Spine Treatments clinical trial: a sequential multiple assignment randomized trial for chronic low back pain†.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2025Trial
- Neuroimmune Phenotyping as the Next Frontier in Chronic Pain Medicine for Musculoskeletal Back Pain.Current pain and headache reports · 2026Review
- Association Between Sedentary Behavior and the Development of New-Onset Chronic Pain in Older American Adults: Insights From the Health and Retirement Study.American journal of health promotion : AJHP · 2026Article
- A summer reflection.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 · 2026Article
- Effect of preoperative anxiety on acute post-spinal low back pain after cesarean delivery: a prospective cohort study.Journal of anesthesia · 2026Article
- Spinal mobility and paraspinal muscle degeneration: a cross-sectional analysis from the Berlin Back 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 · 2026Article
- Acute effects of a single electroacupuncture session on purinergic signaling and inflammatory markers in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain: a pilot study.Purinergic signalling · 2026Article
- Association of nighttime sleep duration and quality with low back pain in middle-aged and elderly Chinese: a nationwide longitudinal cohort study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- TEAD4 and RXRA Regulate the Function of Nucleus Pulposus Cells in Intervertebral Disc Degeneration Via the TNF-α/NF-κB Pathway: An Integrated Analysis of Single-Cell RNA-Seq, Bulk RNA-Seq, and In Vitro Validation.Applied biochemistry and biotechnology · 2026Article
- Neuroinflammatory Biomarkers in Chronic Low Back Pain: Mechanisms, Clinical Evidence, and Translational Challenges.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- Article
- Neurophysiological, Radiological, and Molecular Biomarkers of Pain-Related Conditions: An Umbrella Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- On the Concept of Pain Chronicization: Clinical Observations and Neurobiological Inference.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Prevalence and Associated Factors of Central Sensitization Among Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, Uganda: A Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Psychometric and Molecular Profiling to Predict Outcomes of Spinal Cord Stimulation for Chronic Pain: A Pilot Study.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Innovative mHealth for addressing low back pain-related factors amongst lower-limb amputees: A quasi-experimental.African journal of disability · 2026Article
- Frailty and Incident Low Back Pain in Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Longitudinal Evidence and Genetic Triangulation.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Association between serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels and migraine: a REFORM study.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThe purpose of this study was to systematically review the evidence on inflammatory biomarkers as analytic predictors of non-specific low back pain (NsLBP). Low back pain (LBP) is the number one cause of disability globally, posing a major health problem that causes an enormous social and economic burden, and there is an increasing interest on the importance of biomarkers in quantifying and even emerge as potential therapeutic tools to LBP.
methodsA systematic search was conducted on July 2022 in Cochrane Library, MEDLINE and Web of Science for all the available literature. Cross-sectional, longitudinal cohort or case-control studies that evaluated the relationship between inflammatory biomarkers collected from blood samples and low back pain in humans were considered eligible for inclusion, as well as prospective and retrospective studies.
resultsThe systematic database search resulted in a total of 4016 records, of which 15 articles were included for synthesis. Sample size comprised a total of 14,555 patients with LBP (acute LBP (n = 2073); chronic LBP (n = 12482)) and 494 controls. Most studies found a positive correlation between classic pro-inflammatory biomarkers and NsLBP, namely C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin 1 (IL-1) and IL-1β, interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumour necrosis factor α (TNF-α). On the other hand, anti-inflammatory biomarker interleukin 10 (IL-10) demonstrated a negative association with NsLBP. Four studies have made direct comparisons between ALBP and CLBP groups regarding their inflammatory biomarkers profile.
conclusionsThis systematic review found evidence of increased levels of pro-inflammatory biomarkers CRP, IL-6 and TNF-α and decreased levels of anti-inflammatory biomarker IL-10 in patients with LBP. Hs-CRP was not correlated with LBP. There is insufficient evidence to associate these findings with the degree of pain severity or the activity status of the lumbar pain over time.
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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.