Genetic component to chronic pain, says recent research

An investigation into the causes of chronic pain suggests there are genetic similarities in people who have similar intensities of pain, a finding that could lead to new treatments and future drug development.
Experts asked 2,721 people with chronic pain (that meant they had been prescribed opioid pain medication) to rate the intensity of their pain from 0 to 10: 9% had low pain perception (scored 1–3); 46% had moderate pain perception (scored 4–6); 45% had high pain perception (scored 7–10). Interesting genetic findings were:
• A gene variant called DRD1 was 33% more common in the low pain group than in the high pain group.
• People in the moderate pain group were more likely to have another two variants. COMT was 25% more common in this group than in the high pain group, and OPRK was 19% more common.
• The high pain group were 25% more likely to have the variant DRD2 than the people in the moderate group.
So identifying if a person has any of these four genes could help doctors better understand their patients’ pain perception.
“Our study is quite significant because it provides an objective way to understand pain and why different individuals have different pain tolerance levels,” says study author Dr Tobore Onojjighofia. “Chronic pain can affect every other part of life. Finding genes that may play a role in pain perception could provide a target for developing new therapies.”