Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41421736›Full record

ArticleBrain, behavior, and immunity2026

Brain-immune correlates of quality of life in adolescents with chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Saül Pascual-Diaz, Maria Suñol, Marie-Eve Hoeppli, Emma Biggs, Christopher D King, Nima Aghaeepour, Martin S Angst, Edward Ganio, Amelie Cambriel, Dorien Feyaerts and 6 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Brain, behavior, and immunity, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

16 authors.

Saül Pascual-DiazDepartment of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Institute of Neuroscience, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; IDIBAPS, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Barcelona, Spain; Center for Neuroscience Imaging Research, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Suwon, South Korea. Electronic address: spascual@ub.edu.
Maria SuñolDepartment of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Institute of Neuroscience, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; IDIBAPS, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Barcelona, Spain.
Marie-Eve HoeppliDivision of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA; Pediatric Pain Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
Emma BiggsDepartment of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Christopher D KingDivision of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA; Pediatric Pain Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
Nima AghaeepourDepartment of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Biomedical Data Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Martin S AngstDepartment of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Edward GanioDepartment of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Amelie CambrielDepartment of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; APHP, Hopital Saint Antoine, DMU DREAM, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, AP-HP Paris, France.
Dorien FeyaertsDepartment of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Brice GaudilliereDepartment of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA 94305, USA.
Jennifer N StinsonThe Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Massieh MoayediCentre for Multimodal Sensorimotor and Pain Research, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Edward Street, Toronto, ON M5G 1E2, Canada; Division of Clinical & Computational Neuroscience, Krembil Brain Institute, University Health Network, Nassau Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1M8, Canada.
Robert C CoghillDivision of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA; Pediatric Pain Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
Laura E SimonsDepartment of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Marina López-SolàDepartment of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Institute of Neuroscience, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; IDIBAPS, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: mlopezsola@ub.edu.

Funding

SPRINT: Signature for Pain Recovery IN TeensR61NS114926 · NINDS · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · PI SIMONS, LAURA E · 2019 to 2019
$5.4M
SPRINT: Signature for Pain Recovery IN TeensR33NS114926 · NINDS · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · PI SIMONS, LAURA E · 2023 to 2024
$4.1M
Mentoring and Research in Biobehavioral Aspects of Pediatric PainK24AR078945 · NIAMS · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · PI LAURA E SIMONS · 2022 to 2026
$970k
NIAMS NIH HHS K24 AR078945NINDS NIH HHS R33 NS114926NINDS NIH HHS R61 NS114926
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) pain affects a substantial proportion of youth, with 5 % reporting high-impact symptoms. Chronic pain in youth leads to multifaceted negative consequences that profoundly affect adolescents' quality of life (QoL) and future outcomes. Recent studies suggest that neuro-immune interactions significantly contribute to chronic pain. However, how systemic immune dysregulation influences brain function, and how these brain changes affect well-being and functioning in chronic pain remains unclear. This study aims to examine the convergence between immune function and brain processing during a multisensory task to identify novel mechanistic pathways that may explain reduced QoL in adolescents with chronic MSK pain (N = 129). We used a multisensory fMRI task designed to mimic the unpleasant sensory experiences that adolescents and adults with chronic pain often encounter in daily life. Higher task-evoked activation in the rostral anterior cingulate and dorsomedial prefrontal cortices (rACC-dmPFC), which support threat appraisal and response regulation, was associated with lower physical QoL (pFWE = 0.005). Lower physical QoL was also associated with augmented functional connectivity between the rACC-dmPFC region and sensory processing areas in the somatosensory (pFWE = 0.002) and visual (pFWE = 0.049) cortices. Higher systemic pro-inflammatory activity in immature neutrophils was also associated with lower physical QoL (p = 0.01). Furthermore, task-evoked brain activation in the rACC-dmPFC partially mediated the relationship between neutrophil-mediated inflammatory responses and reduced physical QoL. These findings suggest a potential neuro-immune pathway through which systemic immune alterations may affect brain function and QoL in adolescents with chronic MSK pain.

Indexed as

BrainChronic PainMusculoskeletal PainQuality of LifeAdolescentBrain MappingFemaleGyrus CinguliHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMalePrefrontal CortexYoung Adult

Identifiers

PMID41421736
PMCPMC13264383

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

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.