Neck/upper back and low back pain in parents and their adult offspring: Family linkage data from the Norwegian HUNT Study

Background Chronic pain in the neck and low back is highly prevalent. Although heritable components have been identified, knowledge about generational transmission of spinal pain between parents and their adult offspring is sparse. Methods This study examined the intergenerational association of spinal pain using data from 11,081 parent–offspring trios participating in the population‐based HUNT Study in Norway. Logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for offspring spinal pain associated with parental spinal pain. Results In total, 3654 (33%) offspring reported spinal pain at participation. Maternal and paternal spinal pain was consistently associated with higher ORs for offspring spinal pain. The results suggest a slightly stronger association for parental multilevel spinal pain (i.e., both neck/upper back pain and low back pain) than for pain localized to the neck/upper back or low back. Multilevel spinal pain in both parents was associated with ORs of 2.6 (95% CI, 2.1–3.3), 2.4 (95% CI, 1.9–3.1) and 3.1 (95% CI, 2.2–4.4) for offspring neck/upper back, low back and multilevel spinal pain, respectively. Conclusion Parental chronic spinal pain was consistently associated with increased occurrence of chronic spinal pain in their adult offspring, and this association was particularly strong for multilevel spinal pain.