ArticleBritish journal of anaesthesia2025
Associations between endogenous sex hormones and multisite chronic musculoskeletal pain.
Article in British journal of anaesthesia, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- The association between age at menarche and subsequent risk of chronic pain.Frontiers in global women's health · 2026Review
- Attitudes and knowledge of pain specialists in Israel regarding sexual health in chronic pain patients.Scientific reports · 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
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSex-differences in pain perception have been documented; however, the role of sex hormones in chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) remains unclear. Therefore, this study investigated whether sex hormones and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) are associated with CMP.
methodsWe utilised data from the UK Biobank (n=357 424; females: 51.6%; white: 95.2%). Serum concentrations of oestradiol (E2), testosterone (T), and SHBG were measured at baseline. Chronic pain (≥3 months) in the neck/shoulder, back, hip, knee, or 'all over the body' was assessed at baseline and three follow-ups. Mixed-effects multinomial/logistic regression models were used.
resultsIn multivariable analyses, greater concentrations of T and T/SHBG were associated with a lower number of CMP sites in both males (T: relative risk ratio=0.81 per standard deviation, 95% confidence interval [0.77-0.86] and T/SHBG: 0.85 [0.80-0.92]) and females (T: 0.85 [0.81-0.89] and T/SHBG: 0.93 [0.89-0.97] [all P-values for trend ≤0.001]). Greater T concentrations and T/SHBG were also associated with lower odds of CMP across all sites, while higher concentrations of SHBG were associated with lower odds of neck/shoulder CMP in both sexes. There was no association between concentrations of E2, SHBG, or E2/SHBG and number of CMP or site-specific CMP in either sex.
conclusionIn both sexes, greater T concentrations and T/SHBG were associated with lower number of CMP sites and site-specific CMP, while greater concentrations of SHBG were linked to lower odds of neck/shoulder CMP. These findings suggest a potential involvement of sex steroids in the pathogenesis of CMP and underscore the need for further investigation into their potential in chronic pain management strategies.
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