title: Structural Brain Imaging in People With Low Back Pain.
abstract: METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to determine whether low back pain (subacute and chronic) is related to differences in brain volume.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Inconsistent findings have been reported about the effect of chronic low back pain on brain volume, and the effect of subacute low back pain on brain volume has not been sufficiently investigated.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 130 participants were included (23 subacute and 68 chronic low back pain; 39 healthy controls). The main outcome measure was whole and regional brain volume. Clinical outcome measures included pain duration, pain intensity, fear avoidance belief questionnaire, Oswestry Disability Index, and Beck's Depression Inventory.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Decrease in brain volume in several regions was observed in chronic low back pain when compared with health subjects; however, after correcting for multiple comparisons, no significant differences were detected between any of the three groups in whole-brain volume. Regionally, we detected less gray matter volume in two voxels in the middle frontal gyrus in chronic low back pain participants compared with healthy controls. None of the clinical outcome measures were correlated with brain volume measurements.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Low back pain (subacute or chronic) is not related to significant differences in brain volume after correction for multiple comparisons. The effect size was too small to detect possible subtle changes unless much larger sample sizes are examined, or it is possible that low back pain does not affect brain volume.
  
  
  METHODS
  5.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS.
authors.forename: Zaid M
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Mansour
authors.affiliation: Hoglund Brian Imaging Center, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS.
authors.forename: Rebecca J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Lepping
authors.affiliation: Alzheimer's Research Disease Center, University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, KS.
authors.forename: Robyn A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Honea
authors.affiliation: Hoglund Brian Imaging Center, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS.
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS.
authors.forename: Hung-Wen
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.affiliation: Alzheimer's Research Disease Center, University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, KS.|Department of Neurology, University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, KS.
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS.
authors.forename: Neena K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Sharma
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D059906:Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult