Shaped by your childhood: Adult chronic pain in relation to psychological trauma in childhood
Open accessAbstract
INTRODUCTION: Chronic pain is a health problem that is one of leading cause of disability. Studies have shown that various aspects of a person's history, such as difficult experiences in early life, can affect lifestyle and health later. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between chronic pain, adverse childhood experience (ACE) and violence in adulthood in the general population of Iceland. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study. The sample was 12.400 individuals, 18-80 years of age, randomly selected from respondents' group of the data collection company MASKINA (National Portal). Data on chronic pain, ACE and experience of violence in adulthood were examined. Statistical processing was carried out in IBM SPSS Statistics 28th edition. RESULTS: Response rate was 44.8% (female 57.1%, M=56 years). Prevalence of chronic pain (≥3 months) was 40.1%. A total of 91.1% of participants answered questions about ACE, of which 16.1% ≥4 ACE-scores. There was a positive relationship between ACE and chronic pain (OR = 1.675, 95% CI: 1.420 - 1.977). Those who had ≥4 ACE-scores were more likely to have experienced violence in adulthood. CSONCLUSION: The results of this study show that chronic pain and violence in adulthood can be associated with psychological childhood trauma. People who experience psychological childhood trauma and violence in adulthood are more likely to suffer from chronic pain. It is important to be aware of experiences of childhood psychological trauma and violence when people seek healthcare for chronic pain.
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The findings are consistent with reports that women experiencing violence have adverse health outcomes and with other systematic reviews associating pain symptoms or syndromes with some type of adult or childhood abuse.
“Our findings are consistent with reports that women experiencing violence have adverse health outcomes [18–21], and with other systematic reviews that associate some pain symptoms/syndromes with some type of adult or childhood abuse [30–34].”
From The association between violence against women and chronic pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2024) · cites this paper as [31]
The English summary (p. 73) reports an association between adverse childhood experiences and chronic pain and says that people who experienced childhood psychological trauma and adult violence were more likely to have chronic pain. This supports the pain–abuse association, but the cited paper is a retrospective cross-sectional study, not a systematic review. (LLM, conf=0.87)
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Sorted by citations
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“Several studies and systematic reviews have examined the link between adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and chronic pain [31, 32].”
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Risk Factors for Chronic Pain in Women: The Role of Violence Exposure in a Case–Control Study
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- Authors
- University of Akureyri, T. F. D. O. Á. M., Pálsdóttir, V. H., Jónsdóttir, Þ., University of Akureyri, Óskarsson, G. K., & University of Akureyri
- Affiliations
- University of Akureyri (IS)
- Venue
- Læknablaðið
- Published
- 2023-02-06
- Volume
- 109
- Issue
- 02
- Pages
- 67-73
- ISSN
- 0023-7213 (ISSN-L)
- 1670-4959
- OpenAlex
- W4318263823
- Cited by
- 3
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 2
- FWCI
- 0.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- is
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-nd
- Locations
- Læknablaðið (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Keywords
- chronic pain, adverse childhood experiences, childhood trauma, adult violence, childhood abuse, childhood adversity, prevalence of chronic pain, Iceland
- MeSH terms
- Psychological Trauma, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Child, Child Abuse, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Retrospective Studies, Young Adult, Chronic Pain
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