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Observational Study
. 2022 Jan 5;43(1):109-114.
doi: 10.1093/jbcr/irab071.

Peritraumatic Plasma Omega-3 Fatty Acid Concentration Predicts Chronic Pain Severity Following Thermal Burn Injury

Matthew C Mauck  1   2 , Chloe E Barton  1   2 , Andrew S Tungate  1   2 , Jeffrey W Shupp  3 , Rachel Karlnoski  4 , David J Smith  4 , Felicia N Williams  5 , Samuel W Jones  5 , Christopher Sefton  1   2 , Kyle McGrath  1   2 , Bruce A Cairns  5 , Samuel A McLean  1   2   6
Affiliations
Observational Study

Peritraumatic Plasma Omega-3 Fatty Acid Concentration Predicts Chronic Pain Severity Following Thermal Burn Injury

Matthew C Mauck et al. J Burn Care Res. .

Abstract

Chronic pain is a significant comorbidity of burn injury affecting up to 60% of survivors. Currently, no treatments are available to prevent chronic pain after burn injury. Accumulating evidence suggests that omega-3 fatty acids (O3FAs) improve symptoms across a range of painful conditions. In this study, we evaluated whether low peritraumatic levels of O3FA predict greater pain severity during the year after burn injury. Burn survivors undergoing skin autograft were recruited from three participating burn centers. Plasma O3FA (n = 77) levels were assessed in the early aftermath of burn injury using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry, and pain severity was assessed via the 0 to 10 numeric rating scale for 1 year following burn injury. Repeated-measures linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between peritraumatic O3FA concentrations and pain severity during the year following burn injury. Peritraumatic O3FA concentration and chronic pain severity were inversely related; lower levels of peritraumatic O3FAs predicted worse pain outcomes (β = -0.002, P = .020). Future studies are needed to evaluate biological mechanisms mediating this association and to assess the ability of O3FAs to prevent chronic pain following burn injury.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) flow diagram. Participants included in the analysis were those who had available peritraumatic plasma samples for omega-3 fatty acid analysis.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Peritraumatic, plasma omega-3 fatty acid (O3FA) concentration (μM) compared to previously published normative population. Total O3FA and component fatty acids (decosahexaenoic acid [DHA], eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA], docosapentaenoic acid [DPA], and alpha-Linolenic acid [ALA]) are shown. Open circles indicate previously published mean concentrations from a normative sample, and closed circles represent mean concentrations from burn survivors in the immediate aftermath of the injury. Error bars show the standard deviation. Statistically significant differences are indicated with an asterisk (*) which indicates P < .05 on an unpaired t test.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Influence of peritraumatic, plasma O3FA concentration on pain severity over 1 year following major thermal burn injury. Pain severity was measured with a 0 to 10 Numeric Rating Scale (NRS). Mean pain severity over time is plotted among individuals in the highest tertile (dotted line, closed circles) vs those in the lowest tertile (solid line, closed circles).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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