Early life adversity increases risk for chronic post-traumatic pain, data from humans and rodents
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: ABSTRACT: Traumatic stress exposures (TSEs) are common in life. Although most individuals recover after a TSE, a substantial subset develop adverse post-traumatic neuropsychiatric sequelae such as chronic post-traumatic musculoskeletal pain (CPMP). Vulnerability factors for CPMP are poorly understood, which hinders identification of high-risk individuals for targeted interventions. One known vulnerability factor for many pain types is exposure to early life adversity (ELA), but few studies have assessed whether ELA increases risk for CPMP. This study used data from the Advancing Understanding of RecOvery afteR traumA study, a prospective human cohort study of TSE survivors, to test the hypothesis that ELA increases risk for CPMP. In addition, in secondary analyses, we assessed which subtypes of ELA (including childhood bullying) were most predictive of CPMP and whether a rat ELA model consisting of neonatal limited bedding, combined with single prolonged stress (SPS) in adulthood, would accurately model human findings. In Advancing Understanding of RecOvery afteR traumA study participants (n = 2480), using multinomial logistic regression modeling of 4 identified latent pain classes, we found that ELA increased vulnerability to the high unremitting pain class (odds ratio [OR] = 1.047, P < 0.001), the moderate pain class (OR = 1.031, P < 0.001), and the moderate recovery pain class (OR = 1.018, P = 0.004), with physical abuse, emotional abuse, and bullying being the strongest predictors of high pain class assignment. Similarly, in male and female Sprague Dawley rats, in comparison with SPS alone, neonatal limited bedding combined with SPS caused increased baseline sensitivity and prolonged mechanical hypersensitivity (F(11,197) = 3.22, P < 0.001). Further studies in animals and humans are needed to understand mechanisms by which ELA confers vulnerability to CPMP.
Source: Pain
Authors: Lauren A. McKibben, Alice Woolard, Samuel A. McLean, Ying Zhao, Taanvii Verma, Jacqueline Mickelson, Hongxia Lu, Jarred Lobo, Stacey L. House, Francesca L. Beaudoin, Xinming An, Jennifer S. Stevens, Thomas C. Neylan, Tanja Jovanovic, Laura T. Germine, Scott L. Rauch, John P. Haran, Alan B. Storrow, Christopher Lewandowski, Phyllis L. Hendry, Sophia Sheikh, Christopher W. Jones, Brittany E. Punches, Lauren A. Hudak, Jose L. Pascual, Mark J. Seamon, Claire Pearson, David A. Peak, Roland C. Merchant, Robert M. Domeier, Niels K. Rathlev, Brian J. O'Neil, Leon D. Sanchez, Steven E. Bruce, John F. Sheridan, Ronald C. Kessler, Karestan C. Koenen, Kerry J. Ressler, Sarah D. Linnstaedt
Institutions: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Washington University in St. Louis, Brown University, Emory University, University of California, San Francisco, Wayne State University, Harvard University, McLean Hospital, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Henry Ford Health, Henry Ford Hospital, University of Florida, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, The Ohio State University, University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hospital, Baystate Medical Center, Detroit Receiving Hospital, University of Missouri–St. Louis, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: FKBP51 antagonism to prevent chronic pain: optimizing efficacy & evaluating safety and mechanisms, G3775625636, G4521742817, G5347517632, G537306521, G563385948, Longitudinal Assessment of Post-traumatic Syndromes, Mobile Measures of Threat Sensitivity for Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Assessment
OpenAlex ID: W4411468866