Systemic Inflammation, Sleep, and Psychological Factors Determine Recovery Trajectories for People With Neck Pain: An...

Area of Science:

• Pain Medicine
• Neuroscience
• Psychology

Background:

• Acute neck pain is a common condition with variable recovery patterns.
• Factors influencing recovery trajectories remain incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify distinct pain and disability trajectories following acute neck pain.
• To assess how neuroimmune, psychological, behavioral, and clinical factors differentiate these trajectories.

Main Methods:

• Explorative prospective cohort study with 6-month follow-up.
• Inclusion of 50 participants with acute neck pain.
• Assessment of neuroimmune/endocrine, psychological, behavioral, nociceptive processing, clinical, demographic, and management factors using latent class and mixed-effects models.

Main Results:

• Three pain trajectories were identified: Moderate pain - Favorable recovery (50%), Severe pain - Favorable recovery (32%), and Severe pain - Unfavorable recovery (18%).
• Two disability trajectories were identified: Mild disability - Favorable recovery (82%) and Severe disability - Unfavorable recovery (18%).
• Unfavorable trajectories were associated with ongoing systemic inflammation (e.g., high-sensitive C-reactive protein), sleep disturbances, and elevated psychological distress (depression, stress, anxiety).

Conclusions:

• Distinct recovery trajectories exist for acute neck pain.
• Systemic inflammation, sleep disturbances, and psychological factors significantly influence recovery outcomes.
• These findings highlight potential targets for interventions to improve acute neck pain recovery.