Papers of the Week

We investigated if parental multi-site chronic pain increases the risk of adult offspring developing additional chronic pain sites, and if offspring body mass index (BMI) and leisure time physical activity modify this association. We used longitudinal data on 7,654 offspring linked with their parents who participated in the population-based HUNT Study (Norway) in 1995-97 and 2006-08. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence interval (CI). One-third of offspring (n=2,573) developed additional chronic pain sites. Having both parents with 1-2 chronic pain sites increased the risk of developing additional pain sites compared to having parents free of chronic pain (OR=1.33; 95% CI 1.05-1.68), with larger effects observed when both parents had ≥3 chronic pain sites (OR=1.46; 95% CI 1.17-1.82). These associations were largely driven by maternal pain, i.e., there was no association between paternal chronic pain and risk of additional pain sites in offspring. The parent-offspring transfer of additional pain sites (when both parents had ≥3 pain sites) strengthened when offspring were obese (OR=2.56; 95% CI 1.75-3.75) or physically inactive (OR=1.73; 95% CI 1.33-2.27). In conclusion, parental multi-site chronic pain increases the risk of offspring developing additional chronic pain sites, particularly those with obesity or inactivity. Perspective: This longitudinal analysis investigated the parent-offspring transmission of multi-site chronic pain, and whether lifestyle behaviours in offspring modify this association. The findings suggest that having parents with multi-site chronic pain increases the risk of offspring developing additional chronic pain sites, particularly if offspring are obese or inactive.