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. 2012 Dec;13(12):1151-61.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2012.08.007. Epub 2012 Oct 17.

Fear of pain in the context of intensive pain rehabilitation among children and adolescents with neuropathic pain: associations with treatment response

Laura E Simons  1 , Karen J Kaczynski, Caitlin Conroy, Deirdre E Logan
Affiliations

Fear of pain in the context of intensive pain rehabilitation among children and adolescents with neuropathic pain: associations with treatment response

Laura E Simons et al. J Pain. 2012 Dec.

Abstract

Recent research has implicated pain-related fear in relation to functional outcomes in children with chronic pain. The current study examined fear of pain, disability, and depression within the context of an intensive pain rehabilitation program. One hundred forty-five children and adolescents who participated in an intensive interdisciplinary pediatric pain rehabilitation day program were assessed in this study. Patients completed measures of pain intensity, pain-related fears, functional disability, and depressive symptoms at admission, discharge, and on average, 2 months postdischarge. After controlling for pain intensity, pain-related fear was significantly related to disability and depressive symptoms at all time points. As predicted, a decline in pain-related fear was significantly associated with a decrease in disability and depressive symptoms. Interestingly, high levels of pain-related fears at admission predicted less reduction in functional disability and depression at discharge, suggesting that high levels of pain-related fear may be a risk factor in relation to treatment outcomes. Overall, results indicate that the relationship between fear of pain and changes in disability and depressive symptoms are closely linked, with fear of pain playing an important role in treatment.

Perspective: This paper presents results underscoring the importance of pain-related fear in relation to treatment response for children and adolescents with chronic pain. These findings support the need to develop and implement interventions that target reductions in pain-related fear.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures: There are no conflicts of interest to report.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of participants.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Model with Functional Disability as Outcome. Bold lines are significant at p < .05; dashed lines are not significant. Error covariances were included in the model but were not included in the figure for simplicity and interpretability.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Model with Depression as Outcome. Bold lines are significant at p < .05; dashed lines are not significant. Error covariances were included in the model but were not included in the figure for simplicity and interpretability.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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