Chronic pain prevalence and associated factors in adolescents with and without physical disabilities.
Rocío de la Vega, Cornelius Groenewald, Maggie H Bromberg and 2 others
PMID 29468673WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents with physical disabilities reported chronic pain more often than peers without disabilities.
Pain was linked to depression, anxiety and insomnia, but having both disability and pain did not add extra risk.
Key findings
01Adolescents with physical disabilities had a higher rate of chronic pain than able-bodied adolescents (27.2% versus 15.1%).
02After controlling for sex, age, ethnic group and income, chronic pain was associated with higher depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and insomnia.
03Having both a physical disability and chronic pain was not associated with greater depression, anxiety or insomnia than having a physical disability without chronic pain or being able-bodied.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The data are cross-sectional, so the study cannot show that disability or pain caused depression, anxiety or insomnia. The chronic pain definition required pain almost every day or every day, so less frequent pain may have been missed. The dataset did not include pain intensity, duration, extent, disability diagnoses, current treatments, or a functioning index. The data are from an older survey wave and represent US adolescents, so generalizability to current or other populations is unknown.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not include a conflicts-of-interest declaration. The listed support is NIH extramural and non-U.S. government.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that physical disability causes higher depression, anxiety or insomnia. The study is cross-sectional, and adjusted analysis found no independent association between disability and these outcomes, and no extra association when disability and pain occurred together.