Chronic Back Pain Linked to Three Genetic Variants

An international team of scientists has identified three novel genetic variants associated with chronic back pain. Their study (“ Genome-wide meta-analysis of 158,000 individuals of European ancestry identifies three loci associated with chronic back pain ”), published in PLOS Genetics , links the risk for back pain with variants in genes controlling skeletal development, among other pathways. These findings may help to elucidate the basic biology underlying this common symptom,