Abstract
Although chronic pain in childhood can last into adulthood, few studies have evaluated
the characteristics of adults with chronic pain who report childhood chronic pain.
Thus, 1,045 new patients (mean age, 49.5 ± 15.4) at an academic tertiary care pain
clinic were prospectively evaluated using validated self-report questionnaires. Patients
also responded to questions about childhood pain. We found that almost 17% (n = 176)
of adult chronic pain patients reported a history of chronic pain in childhood or
adolescence, with close to 80% indicating that the pain in childhood continues today.
Adults reporting childhood chronic pain were predominantly female (68%), commonly
reported widespread pain (85%), and had almost 3 times the odds of meeting survey
criteria for fibromyalgia (odds ratio [OR] = 2.94, 95% confidence interval [CI] =
2.04–4.23) than those denying childhood chronic pain. Similarly, those with childhood
pain had twice the odds of having biological relatives with chronic pain (OR = 2.03,
95% CI = 1.39–2.96) and almost 3 times the odds of having relatives with psychiatric
illness (OR = 2.85, 95% CI = 1.97–4.11). Lastly, compared to patients who did not
report childhood chronic pain, those who did were more likely to use neuropathic descriptors
for their pain (OR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.26–2.64), have slightly worse functional status
(B = −2.12, t = −3.10, P = .002), and have increased anxiety (OR = 1.77, 95% CI = 1.24–2.52).
Perspective
Our study revealed that 1 in 6 adult pain patients reported pain that dated back to
childhood or adolescence. In such patients, evidence suggested that their pain was
more likely to be widespread, neuropathic in nature, and accompanied by psychological
comorbidities and decreased functional status.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 09, 2013
Accepted:
June 24,
2013
Received in revised form:
June 18,
2013
Received:
January 8,
2013
Footnotes
This research was funded by the Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan Medical School.
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
