Background Oral vitamin C supplementation has been associated with lower risk of chronic postsurgical pain. However, the effect of dietary vitamin C on pain in a non-surgical setting is unknown. We aimed to investigate the association between dietary vitamin C intake and changes over time in chronic pain and its characteristics in community-dwelling adults aged 60+ years. Methods We pooled data from participants of the Seniors-ENRICA-1 (n=864) and Seniors-ENRICA-2 (n=862) cohorts who reported pain at baseline or at follow-up. Habitual diet was assessed with a face-to-face diet history and dietary vitamin C intake was estimated using standard food composition tables. Pain changes over time were the difference between scores at baseline and follow-up obtained from a pain scale that considered the frequency, severity, and number of pain locations. Multivariable-adjusted relative risk ratios (RRR) were obtained using multinomial logistic regression. Results After a median follow-up of 2.6 years, pain worsened for 696 (40.3%) participants, improved for 734 (42.5%), and did not change for 296 (17.2%). Compared to the lowest tertile of energy-adjusted vitamin C intake, those in the highest tertile had a higher likelihood of overall pain improvement (RRR 1.61 [95% confidence interval 1.07–2.41],p-trend 0.02). Higher vitamin C intake was also associated with lower pain frequency (1.57 [1.00–2.47],p-trend=0.05) and number of pain locations (1.75 [1.13–2.70],p-trend=0.01). Conclusions Higher dietary vitamin C intake was associated with improvement of pain and with lower pain frequency and number of pain locations in older adults. Nutritional interventions to increase dietary vitamin C intake with the aim of improving pain management require clinical testing.

中文翻译：

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老年人膳食维生素 C 摄入量以及疼痛频率、严重程度和位置的变化


背景 口服维生素 C 补充剂可降低慢性术后疼痛的风险。然而，膳食维生素 C 对非手术环境中疼痛的影响尚不清楚。我们的目的是调查膳食维生素 C 摄入量与 60 岁以上社区居民的慢性疼痛及其特征随时间变化之间的关系。方法 我们汇集了在基线或随访时报告疼痛的 Seniors-ENRICA-1 (n=864) 和 Seniors-ENRICA-2 (n=862) 队列参与者的数据。通过面对面的饮食史评估习惯饮食，并使用标准食物成分表估计膳食维生素 C 摄入量。疼痛随时间的变化是根据疼痛量表获得的基线分数和随访分数之间的差异，该量表考虑了疼痛的频率、严重程度和疼痛部位的数量。使用多项逻辑回归获得多变量调整相对风险比（RRR）。结果 中位随访 2.6 年后，696 名 (40.3%) 参与者疼痛恶化，734 名 (42.5%) 参与者疼痛有所改善，296 名 (17.2%) 参与者疼痛没有变化。与能量调整维生素 C 摄入量的最低三分位相比，最高三分位的患者整体疼痛改善的可能性更高（RRR 1.61 [95% 置信区间 1.07–2.41]，p 趋势 0.02）。较高的维生素 C 摄入量还与较低的疼痛频率 (1.57 [1.00–2.47],p-trend=0.05) 和疼痛部位数量 (1.75 [1.13–2.70],p-trend=0.01) 相关。结论 膳食维生素 C 摄入量较高与老年人疼痛的改善以及较低的疼痛频率和疼痛部位数量相关。增加膳食维生素 C 摄入量以改善疼痛管理的营养干预措施需要临床测试。