Daily stress and mood and their association with pain, health-care use, and school activity in adolescents with sickle cell disease.

Objective: To determine the extent to which daily stress and mood are associated with pain, health-care use, and school activity in adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD).

Method: Adolescents with SCD (n = 37; aged 13 to 17 years) completed daily diaries assessing pain, stress, mood, activity, and health-care use for up to 6 months. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze the data.

Results: Daily increases in stress and negative mood were associated with increases in same-day pain, health-care use, and reductions in school and social activity. Increases in positive mood were associated with decreases in pain, less health-care use, and more activity participation. Notably, pain was predictive of higher stress and lower positive mood on subsequent days.

Conclusion: Pain in adolescents with SCD is stressful and may lead to alterations in mood states. Understanding the way in which these variables relate to health-care use and activity may lead to improved pain management approaches.