2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

A case control study on intractable chronic pain: The attachment, cognition, emotion, and biomarkers on central sensitization

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	19H03752
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Review Section	Basic Section 55050:Anesthesiology-related
Research Institution	Kyushu University
Principal Investigator	Hosoi Masako 九州大学, 大学病院, 講師 (80380400)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	坂本英治九州大学, 大学病院, 講師 (00295859) 柴田舞欧九州大学, 医学研究院, 助教 (20734982) 二宮利治九州大学, 医学研究院, 教授 (30571765) 安野広三九州大学, 大学病院, 助教 (30747994) 外園栄作九州大学, 医学研究院, 講師 (60404042)
Project Period (FY)	2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
Keywords	中枢性感作 / 慢性疼痛 / 家族機能 / 悪夢 / 脳容積 / 腰痛 / 有症率 / 愛着
Outline of Final Research Achievements	In chronic pain refractory cases, central sensitization may be caused by adversity from childhood in addition to current stress conditions. Based on the hypothesis that nightmares may result from adversity such as family dysfunction, causing changes in brain function and brain volume, we conducted a psychosomatic epidemiological study of general residents in the town of Hisayama (1106~2575 subjects) and chronic pain refractory cases (250 subjects) at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Kyushu University Hospital. The results showed that the prevalence and severity of chronic pain increased significantly in the general population of the region in Japan as family function declined, and there was an association between decreased volume of pain-related brain regions and chronic low back pain. Distress levels of nightmares were also associated with central sensitization-related symptoms and anxiety, and were more severe in the widespread pain group than in the local pain group.
Free Research Field	心身医学・神経科学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	慢性疼痛と家族機能については小児で注目されてきたが、40歳以上の成人における家族機能の一般住民の慢性疼痛への影響は不明であった。本研究では、50年以上の歴史のある久山町疫学研究で、厳密に情報を収集し、多変量調整をしたうえでも家族機能不全が慢性疼痛の有症率や重症度を有意に上昇させていたことが判明した。また、同じ集団で1000人以上のMRIを撮影し、慢性腰痛が高齢者の脳萎縮と関連し、慢性疼痛の脳への悪影響が明らかとなり、その結果は国際疼痛学会誌PAINで注目され、学術的にインパクトをもたらした。慢性疼痛と悪夢の関連とともに、慢性疼痛の心理教育に有用な情報として社会的意義が高い。