Maternal pain influences her evaluation of recurrent pain in 6- to 11-year-old healthy children

TY - JOUR

T1 - Maternal pain influences her evaluation of recurrent pain in 6- to 11-year-old healthy children

AU - Graungaard, Anette Hauskov

AU - Siersma, Volkert Dirk

AU - Nielsen, Kirsten Lykke

AU - Ertmann, Ruth Kirk

AU - Knudsen, Lisbeth E.

AU - Mäkelä, Marja-Leena Marjukka

PY - 2016/2/1

Y1 - 2016/2/1

N2 - Aim Children with recurrent pain rely on their parents to acknowledge it. We compared pain reported by healthy children and their mothers, to evaluate their agreement, and also looked at the effect of maternal health on children's pain. Methods This was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey in Danish public schools. The participants were 131 healthy children aged 6-11 years and their mothers. The main outcome measures were the prevalence of recurrent pain reported by the mother and child, agreements between their reports and any associations between the child's pain, socio-demographic characteristics and maternal health factors. Results Recurrent pain was reported by nearly one-third (31%) of the children and their mothers. A quarter (25%) of the mother-child pairs disagreed on the existence of pain in the child, and a third (33%) disagreed on the frequency and duration. When the data were adjusted for child characteristics and socio-demographic parameters, mothers who had chronic pain were five times more likely to report frequent pain in their children than mothers without pain. This is a new finding. Conclusion Maternal health factors may influence her evaluation of her child's pain. Family health and pain behaviour should be considered when recurrent pain is suspected in a child.

AB - Aim Children with recurrent pain rely on their parents to acknowledge it. We compared pain reported by healthy children and their mothers, to evaluate their agreement, and also looked at the effect of maternal health on children's pain. Methods This was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey in Danish public schools. The participants were 131 healthy children aged 6-11 years and their mothers. The main outcome measures were the prevalence of recurrent pain reported by the mother and child, agreements between their reports and any associations between the child's pain, socio-demographic characteristics and maternal health factors. Results Recurrent pain was reported by nearly one-third (31%) of the children and their mothers. A quarter (25%) of the mother-child pairs disagreed on the existence of pain in the child, and a third (33%) disagreed on the frequency and duration. When the data were adjusted for child characteristics and socio-demographic parameters, mothers who had chronic pain were five times more likely to report frequent pain in their children than mothers without pain. This is a new finding. Conclusion Maternal health factors may influence her evaluation of her child's pain. Family health and pain behaviour should be considered when recurrent pain is suspected in a child.

U2 - 10.1111/apa.13216

DO - 10.1111/apa.13216

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 26383986

SN - 0803-5253

VL - 105

SP - 183

EP - 190

JO - Acta Paediatrica

JF - Acta Paediatrica

IS - 2

ER -