Children encountering chronic pain tend to avoid school, social activities and may develop psychological issues too. In an extensive trial, scientists from the Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia have revealed that many children are apparently falling prey to chronic pain, specifically girls.
The team inspected 32 analyses and segregated them on the basis of pain type such as headache, abdominal pain, back pain, combined pain, general pain and musculoskeletal pain. The results supposedly pointed out that girls usually suffer more from them, but the reason was not clear.
“We found that persistent and recurrent chronic pain is overwhelmingly prevalent in children and adolescents, with girls generally experiencing more pain than boys and prevalence rates increasing with age. Findings such as these argue that researchers and clinicians should be aware of the problem and the long-term consequences of chronic pain in children,†commented lead investigator Sara King, PhD, currently Assistant Professor, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Headache seemed to be mostly linked to young people with about 23% of them suffering from it. The incidence of all other sorts of pain lied in the range of 11% to 38%. The scientists were especially concerned over the increase of childhood pain over all these decades. The team is all set to conduct and assess further trials based on the acuteness, prevalence and time frame of the pain experienced.
The report is published in the Journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain.