Associations between visceral fat chronic low back pain and central sensitization in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Pain sensitization may be one of the mechanisms contributing to chronic low back pain (CLBP).

OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate the association between visceral fat, CLBP, and central sensitization (CS); describe the relationship between low back pain (LBP) intensity and CS; and identify possible correlation between visceral fat and LBP intensity.

METHODS:

Patients with CLBP were divided using their CS inventory (CSI) scores into low- (CSI $<$ 40) and high-CSI (CSI $⩾$ 40) subgroups. We compared computed tomography (CT) measurements and scores for association with pain according to the visual analogue scale (VAS) between the two groups.

RESULTS:

The low-CSI and the high-CSI groups had 47 patients (67.1%; 21 men, 26 women) and 23 patients (32.9%; 11 men and 12 women), respectively. The high-CSI group had a significantly higher mean VAS score ( $p<$ 0.01) and estimated mean visceral fat area ( $p<$ 0.05) than the low-CSI group. There was a moderate positive correlation between VAS score and visceral fat (standardised partial regression coefficient: 0.659, $p<$ 0.01) in the high-CSI group according to multiple linear regression analysis adjusted for age and sex.

CONCLUSIONS:

Visceral fat is associated with CLBP, regardless of sex or age, and may be a potential therapeutic target for CLBP with CS.