This is the conclusion of a recent study from Northwestern University in Evanston (USA), whose work delves into the reality that people who smoke are more likely to develop chronic back pain, since this habit reduces the ability to resist to this ailment . The research has been published in the journal Human Brain Mapping .
It is not the first time that a scientific study has linked smoking to chronic pain, but it is the first time to suggest that smoking interferes with a brain circuit associated with pain , which is why smokers are more prone to this condition.
The researchers analyzed 160 volunteers who had recently developed acute back pain (lasting between 4 and 12 weeks) as well as 32 patients with chronic back pain (pain for 5 years or more) and 35 participants without back pain. . During five different sessions in the same year, all study volunteers filled out a questionnaire about various health conditions , such as their daily tobacco use. In addition, they were subjected to magnetic resonance imaging .
They found that the medial prefrontal cortex and the nucleus accumbens played a key role in the development of chronic pain. The stronger the connection between the two areas, the less resistant an individual was to chronic pain and tobacco seems to be the connection that reinforces them . Compared with people who did not smoke, people who did had a stronger connection between these brain areas, representing, according to experts, three times more likely to develop chronic back pain than non-smokers.
“However, we have seen a dramatic drop in the activity of this circuit in smokers who – of their own accord – quit during the study. So when they stopped smoking, their vulnerability to chronic pain also decreased, ”explains Bogdan Petre, leader of the study.
Considering that it is the second most common neurological pain with a significant impact on daily life , it is a compelling reason to quit smoking.
