Multiple pains in children and adolescents: a risk factor analysis in a longitudinal study.

Objective: The aim of the study was to ascertain the prevalence of multiple pains (MPs) and detect psychosocial risk factors assessed 1 year previously.

Method: MPs were defined by the number of sites where pain was reported to occur at least "sometimes" in a general population sample of 2,219 German youths.

Results: Two or more sites of recurrent pain were reported by 54% of the participants, whereas 27% reported no pains. Girls were much more prone to MPs than boys. Stability of MP was high in the two waves. Regression analysis revealed that prior MP, age, sex, internalizing/externalizing symptoms, and time spent with visual media explained 25% of the variance: the contribution of the psychosocial factors to the model was small. Separate analyses for boys and girls displayed different risk-factor profiles and a higher degree of predictability in girls.

Conclusion: A supposedly biological disposition, namely pain vulnerability, being particularly high in girls, is assumed to build the basis of pains felt in various sites of the body. Further research is needed to corroborate and specify these assumptions.