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. 2024 Oct 11:17:3355-3369.
doi: 10.2147/JPR.S472934. eCollection 2024.

Biological Markers of Musculoskeletal Pain: A Scoping Review

Codjo Djignefa Djade #  1   2   3 , Caroline Diorio #  1   2 , Danielle Laurin #  2   3   4 , Septime Pepin Hector Hessou  1 , Alfred Kodjo Toi  2 , Amédé Gogovor  2 , Aboubacar Sidibe  1 , Giraud Ekanmian  2 , Teegwendé Valérie Porgo  5 , Hervé Tchala Vignon Zomahoun  1 , Clermont E Dionne #  1   2   3   6
Affiliations

Biological Markers of Musculoskeletal Pain: A Scoping Review

Codjo Djignefa Djade et al. J Pain Res. .

Abstract

Background: Musculoskeletal pain (MSP) is the leading contributor to disability, limiting mobility and dexterity. As research on the determinants of MSP is evolving, biomarkers can probably play a significant role in understanding its causes and improving its clinical management. This scoping review aimed to provide an overview of the associations between biomarkers and MSP.

Methods: This study followed Arksey and O'Malley and PRISMA-ScR recommendations. Keywords related to biomarkers, association, and MSP were searched on PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, and Web of Science databases from inception to September 28th, 2023. Data were systematically retrieved from the retained articles. A narrative synthesis approach - but no quality assessment - was used to map the core themes of biological markers of MSP that emerged from this work.

Results: In total, 81 out of 25,165 identified articles were included in this scoping review. These studies were heterogeneous in many aspects. Overall, vitamin D deficiency, dyslipidemia (or hypercholesterolemia), and cytokines (high levels) were the most studied biomarkers with regards to MSP and were most often reported to be associated with non-specific MSP. Cadmium, calcium, C-reactive protein, collagen, creatinine, hormones, omega-3 fatty acids, sodium, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and vitamin C were also reported to be associated with MSP syndromes, but the evidence on these associations was sketchier. No conclusions could be drawn as to age and sex.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that some biomarkers are associated with specific MSP syndromes, while others would be associated with non-specific syndromes. Among all candidate markers, the evidence seems to be more consistent for vitamin D, cytokines and lipids (total cholesterol, triglycerides, low- and high-density lipoproteins). High-quality studies, stratified by age and sex, are needed to advance our understanding on biomarkers of MSP.

Keywords: biomarkers; musculoskeletal pain; scoping review.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to report in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of the scoping review.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Biomarkers of musculoskeletal pain: scoping review key data.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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