Abstract
Adults who suffer from chronic pain are at increased risk for suicide ideation and
attempts, but it is not clear whether adolescents with chronic pain are similarly
at elevated risk. This study investigates whether chronic pain is associated with
an increase in suicidal ideation/attempts independent of depression in a population
sample of adolescents. We analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent
Health, a longitudinal study of a nationally representative sample of adolescents
in the United States (N = 9,970). Most chronic pain was related to suicide ideation/attempt
both in the last year (odds ratio [OR] 1.3–2.1) and during the subsequent year (OR
1.2–1.8). After controlling for depressive symptoms, headaches (OR = 1.3 last year,
OR = 1.2 subsequent year) and muscle aches (OR = 1.3 last year) remained associated
with suicide ideation but not suicide attempt. These findings show that chronic pain
in adolescence is a risk factor for suicide ideation; this effect is partly but not
fully explained by depression. Youth with comorbid depression and chronic pain are
at increased risk of thinking about and attempting suicide. Clinicians should be alert
to suicide ideation/attempt and comorbid depression in this at-risk population.
Perspective
Adolescents who suffer from chronic pain are at increased risk for suicide ideation
and attempt. Depressive symptoms account for the link between chronic pain and suicide
attempt, but do not completely explain why adolescents with chronic pain show suicide
ideation.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 20, 2011
Accepted:
March 14,
2011
Received in revised form:
February 15,
2011
Received:
July 26,
2010
Footnotes
The authors have no conflicts of interest related to this manuscript.
Identification
Copyright
© 2011 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
