engleski

Nutrition intervention improves quality of life in chronic pain patients

Introduction: Chronic pain is defined as a long- term continuous or recurrent pain with duration of 3-6 months duration post healing. European Pain Federation (EFIC) in its Declaration on Pain (2001) identifies chronic pain as a distinct health issue, which affects every fifth person in Europe. All aspects of patient’s life are altered, from physical, psychological, and social aspects which consequently reflect in lower quality of life. Current treatment recommendations emphasize the need for an individual approach by a multidisciplinary team, where nutrition education must be integral part of the treatment. Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of the 4- week nutrition education intervention on quality of life aspects in chronic pain patients. Methodology: Full protocol is awailable in the Clinical Trials Database (NCT03837080). In short, patients with chronic low back pain (with pain score ≥ 5 at inclusion) are enrolled in the 4-week program for the treatment of chronic pain. The intervention is consisted of a series of nutrition educations specifically tailored for chronic pain. We are presenting preliminary results on the quality of life (SF- 36 questionnaire), anthropometrics and inflammatory marker (high sensitive C-reactive protein, hs-CRP) of 37 patients (mean age 55.6 ± 12.5) who completed the intervention since enrollement. Results: In comparison to baseline, intervention resulted with the significant improvement in all aspects of quality of life. Pain perception improved by 12.4 points (95% CI 5.3 – 19.4 ; p<0.001) and general health perception improved by 24.3 points (95%CI 12.5 – 36.1, p=0.013). Body Mass Index dropped by 0.20 kg/m2 (p=0.003) and waist circumference by 1.9 cm (p<0.001). Mean difference in hs-CRP was 0.23 mg/L. In comparison to baseline, the number of patients with high hs-CRP values reduced by 8.1%. Conclusions: Preliminary results indicate that the nutrition education specifically tailored for chronic pain patients improves their quality of life, reduces inflammation and improves some indicators of state of nourishment.

chronic pain ; nutrition education ; quality of life ; nutrition intervention

Objavljeni su pleriminarni rezultati istraživanja NCT03837080 koje je doktorsko istraživanje prvog autora.