Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), an essential class of fatty acids that plays a significant role in reducing pain and inflammation. Omega-3 and -6 fatty acids are two very essential fatty acids among the class of PUFA. Due to its role in reducing pain and inflammation, this can help to tackle arthritis also, making it a potent medicinal agent. Various research has been done to find PUFA association in reducing arthritis pain and inflammation.

Cecilia L and colleagues conducted a study to evaluate the possible association between dietary intake of PUFA and pain in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients after three months’ treatment of methotrexate (MTX).

A total 591 RA patients with MTX monotherapy were taken from a population-based prospective case-control study, the Epidemiological Investigation of Rheumatoid Arthritis (EIRA). The PUFA dietary data was associated with data of unacceptable pain, non-inflammatory/refractory pain and inflammatory pain after three months. The data on PUFA was collected through food frequency questionnaires. Furthermore, the data on unacceptable pain was evaluated by visual analogue scale (VAS), non-inflammatory/refractory pain and inflammatory pain data by VAS & C-reactive protein (CRP). The statistical analysis of the data was done by logistic regression.

The results revealed that unacceptable pain was reported among 125 patients, refractory pain among 92 patients and inflammatory pain among 33 patients. It can be inferred that omega-3 fatty acid was inversely related to unacceptable pain and refractory pain. On the other hand, omega-6 to -3 FA ratio was directly related to unacceptable pain and refractory pain. No PUFA association was reported with inflammatory pain, CRP and erythrocyte sedimentation rate at follow-up. Furthermore, results of supplementation involved omega-3 FA showed no association with pain patterns.

Overall, the inverse association of omega-3 FA with unacceptable pain and refractory pain may exhibit a significant role in pain suppression among patients with RA.