Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 May 25;5(3):57-65.
doi: 10.1002/pne2.12107. eCollection 2023 Sep.

Co-occurring chronic pain and primary psychological disorders in adolescents: A scoping review

Sharon Bateman  1   2 , Line Caes  3 , Christopher Eccleston  2 , Melanie Noel  4 , Abbie Jordan  1   2
Affiliations

Co-occurring chronic pain and primary psychological disorders in adolescents: A scoping review

Sharon Bateman et al. Paediatr Neonatal Pain. .

Abstract

Long-term health conditions, whether mental or physical, often co-occur in adolescents. For instance, adolescents with chronic pain may experience co-occurring primary psychological disorders. In this scoping review, we determine the influence of co-occurring chronic pain and primary psychological disorders on adolescents' functioning. A systematic search of six databases was conducted to identify articles if they were: (1) peer-reviewed; (2) reported original findings; (3) included participants aged 11-19 years, who experienced chronic pain (i.e., pain lasting 3 months or more) and had a co-occurring diagnosis of a primary psychological disorder; and (4) assessed functioning. Searches returned 9864 articles after the removal of duplicates. A two-phase abstract and full-text screening process identified two eligible articles which compared emotional functioning (n = 1) and social functioning (n = 2) between groups of adolescents with co-occurring chronic pain and primary psychological disorders with adolescents only reporting chronic pain. Overall findings revealed no differences in social functioning, but adolescents with co-occurring chronic pain and a primary psychological disorder (depression and anxiety) reported worse emotional functioning compared with adolescents with chronic pain alone. This review confirms the limited research on the co-occurrence of primary psychological disorders and chronic pain in adolescents by only identifying two eligible articles exploring the co-occurrence of chronic pain with depression, anxiety, and/or attentional disorders.

Keywords: adolescence; adolescents; chronic pain; co‐occurring; functioning; mental health disorder; mental health symptoms; psychological disorders; psychological symptoms.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

This work was undertaken by the named authors of the manuscript and was funded by the Pain Relief Foundation and the Sir Halley Stewart Trust. The views expressed within this report are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Foundation or the Trust. I can confirm that all authors have contributed substantially to the manuscript and have reviewed and agreed to the content. The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
PRISMA flow chart of scoping review search.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Coleman JC. The Nature of Adolescence. 4th ed. Routledge; 2010.
    1. Sawyer S, Azzopardi P, Wickremarathne D, et al. The age of adolescence. Lancet. 2018;2:223‐228. - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization . Adolescent mental health. https://www.who.int/news‐room/fact‐sheets/detail/adolescent‐mental‐health. Accessed April 13, 2021.
    1. Kinghorn A, Shanaube K, Toska E, Cluver L, Bekker LG. Defining adolescence: priorities from a global health perspective. Lancet Child Adolesc Heal. 2018;2:e10. - PubMed
    1. Dahl RE, Gunnar MR. Heightened stress responsiveness and emotional reactivity during pubertal maturation: implications for psychopathology. Dev Psychopathol. 2009;21:1‐6. - PubMed

Publication types