ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Clinical Nutrition
This article is part of the Research TopicDietary Inflammation, Metabolic Syndrome, and Cardiometabolic Health: Mechanisms, Inflammaging, and Translational InsightsView all 6 articles
Pro-Inflammatory Dietary Patterns Are Associated With Increased Pain and Functional Disability in Sciatica: A Hospital-Based Cross-Sectional Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
- 2Dazhou Dachuan District People’s Hospital, Dazhou, China
- 3Mianning People's Hospital, Liangshan, China
- 4Chengdu Jinniu District People's Hospital, Chengdu, China
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Background: Sciatica is a common neuropathic pain condition associated with substantial functional disability. Emerging evidence suggests that diet-induced inflammation may play a role in chronic pain development. However, the association between dietary inflammatory potential and clinical outcomes in sciatica remains unclear. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we enrolled 598 patients diagnosed with sciatica from two hospitals in Sichuan Province, China. The Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) was calculated from food frequency questionnaires. Pain intensity and functional disability were assessed using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), respectively. Serum C-reactive protein (CRP) was measured as an inflammatory biomarker. Correlation analysis, multivariable linear regression, mediation analysis, and restricted cubic spline models were applied. Results: In adjusted models (n = 598; mean age 55.6 years, 47.5% male), higher DII scores were strongly associated with greater pain and disability. Each 1-unit increase in DII corresponded to a 0.48-point increase in VAS (β = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.42–0.53, partial R² ≈0.31) and a 4.75-point increase in ODI (β = 4.75, 95% CI: 4.16–5.34, partial R² ≈0.30; all p < 0.001). The magnitude of the association with VAS exceeded the commonly reported minimal clinically important difference (≈1.5 points) for leg pain, suggesting clinical relevance. DII was not significantly associated with CRP, and CRP did not mediate the DII–pain relationship. Nonlinear dose–response patterns were observed for both VAS and ODI. Conclusion: Pro-inflammatory dietary patterns, as reflected by higher DII scores, are independently associated with greater pain and disability in patients with sciatica, not mediated by CRP but likely involving broader inflammation-related pathways. These findings highlight the potential role of anti-inflammatory nutritional strategies in the integrative management of sciatica.
Keywords: Sciatica, Dietary inflammatory index, neuropathic pain, Inflammation, crp, Disability, DiI
Received: 06 Jul 2025; Accepted: 31 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wu, Yi, Dong, Ding, Wen, Yan, Luo, Zhang and Cheng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Liu Wu
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