A Prospective Trial to Identify Biomarkers Involved in the Transition From Acute to Persistent Chronic Low Back Pain

This is a prospective observational cohort multinational clinical study. There are no biomarkers to help predict in which patients acute low back pain (LBP) will transform into chronic low back pain (CLBP). Human variability and different common comorbidities complicate the picture and make stratification of patients into correct subgroups difficult. However, drugs act by targeting specific molecular pathways and are therefore efficient only in a subgroup of patients sharing common molecular pathology and common genetics. Both CLBP and disc degeneration are known to be heritable. Little investigation has taken place for genetic variants in CLBP. The main aim of this trial is to identify "omics biomarkers" associated with the transition from acute (single episode of low back pain) to persistent/chronic LBP (pain lasting more than 12 weeks).