Association of visceral adiposity index and chronic pain in US adults: a cross-sectional study

The Visceral Obesity Index (VAI) is utilized as a metric employed to assess the distribution of abdominal adipose tissue as well as the functional status of adipose tissue. Nevertheless, the interplay between VAI and persistent pain has yet to be investigated. This cross-sectional analysis investigated the relationship between VAI and persistent pain among 1357 American adults from NHANES data. A logarithmic transformation of VAI was performed to adjust for skewness. Following the adjustment for relevant variables, logistic regression analysis showed a noteworthy association between VAI and chronic pain, suggesting that higher VAI values may be linked to an increased prevalence of persistent pain. Curve fitting analysis revealed a nonlinear correlation, with a breakpoint at a VAI value of 0.18. For VAI values below this threshold, each unit increase was notably correlated with an elevated prevalence of persistent pain, while increases in VAI beyond this threshold did not show a significant impact on chronic pain prevalence. Subgroup analyses indicated that the VAI may serve as a relatively independent risk factor for persistent pain. These findings highlight the possibility of incorporating abdominal adipose modification into pain management approaches and emphasize the critical importance of monitoring visceral fat accumulation to better identify patients more susceptible to chronic pain.