The association between diverse dietary quality measures and the presence of acute or chronic pain in the UK Biobank.

Abstract

Chronic pain affects approximately 20% of adults worldwide and is a leading cause of disability. Emerging evidence suggest that nutrition may influence pain perception. However, the association between dietary quality and various pain conditions remains underexplored. This study examines associations between multiple dietary indices and the presence of acute and chronic pain analysing data from 55,721 UK Biobank participants. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to assess associations between diet quality (Dietary Inflammatory Index [DII], Healthy Diet Index [HDI], Healthful Plant-Based Diet Index [hPDI], Mediterranean Diet Score [MDS], and Eat-Lancet Diet Score [EATL]) and presence of acute or chronic pain versus pain-free individuals. Subgroup analyses examined chronic pain by number of pain sites and pain types. In fully adjusted models, higher hPDI (OR: 0.993, 95% CI: 0.989–0.997), EATL (OR: 0.969, 95% CI: 0.955–0.983), and MDS (OR: 0.981, 95% CI: 0.969–0.992) scores were positively associated with lower odds of having chronic pain, whereas only hPDI was linked to lower odds of having acute pain. Subgroup analyses showed that hPDI and EATL were consistently associated with lower odds of MSK and more localised pain while lower MDS and higher DII scores were positively associated with increased odds of widespread and non-MSK pain. This population-based study demonstrates an association between diet quality and chronic pain and extends the existing literature by showing that multiple dietary indices capture distinct aspects of this relationship. The results highlight the importance of considering different dietary indices and pain subtypes when evaluating diet-pain relationships.