Genetic impact of blood C-reactive protein levels on chronic spinal & widespread pain

Purpose Causal mechanisms underlying systemic inflammation in spinal & widespread pain remain an intractable experimental challenge. Here we examined whether: (i) associations between blood C-reactive protein (CRP) and chronic back, neck/shoulder & widespread pain can be explained by shared underlying genetic variants; and (ii) higher CRP levels causally contribute to these conditions. Methods Using genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of chronic back, neck/shoulder & widespread pain ( N = 6063–79,089 cases; N = 239,125 controls) and GWAS summary statistics for blood CRP (Pan-UK Biobank N = 400,094 & PAGE consortium N = 28,520), we employed cross-trait bivariate linkage disequilibrium score regression to determine genetic correlations ( rG ) between these chronic pain phenotypes and CRP levels (FDR