About The Study
What does the study involve?
About the Study
Baseline and yearly follow-up survey assessments and virtual interviews will be conducted with participants to collect data on social demographics, health, lifestyle, and life experiences. Yearly reviews of participants’ electronic medical records will also be conducted by the research team to collect information on hospital visits and hospitalizations for painful medical procedures, including the number, type, and management of painful medical procedures conducted, and formal medical diagnoses made, including those related to chronic pain and mental health conditions.
BackGround & Related Information
Full Title: Predictors of chronic pain and related conditions in children: a longitudinal cohort study (PRECIPICE)
What is Chronic Pain?
Chronic pain is pain that lasts for a period of 3 months or longer. This pain can be continuous (always present) or can “come and go.” Chronic pain affects 1 in 4 Canadians 15 years and older. We believe chronic pain in older children and adults begins with poorly managed pain in childhood. In addition to costing the health care system more than $60 billion annually, chronic pain has significant effects on individuals and their families, such as lost wages, absenteeism, social isolation, family disruption, depression, anxiety, and even suicide.
The causes of chronic pain are complex and not well understood. Currently, scientists believe that development of chronic pain in young adulthood may be linked to acute pain exposure and poorly managed pain during childhood, biological, psychological, and lifestyle factors, and other adverse childhood experiences such as bullying and poverty.
To date, no research studies have been conducted to follow people from childhood into adulthood to determine if specific childhood experiences or factors lead to a greater risk of developing chronic pain in later years. This longitudinal cohort study aims to fill this gap in knowledge by following 3100 children for 18 years to examine the childhood risk factors associated with the development of chronic pain in young adulthood. Participants will be recruited from the LHSC Children’s Hospital when they are 0-12 months of age. Baseline and yearly follow-up survey assessments and virtual interviews will be administered to participants to collect data on sociodemographic, health, lifestyle, life experience, and pain-related variables. Yearly reviews of participants’ electronic medical records will also be conducted to collect information on ED visits and hospitalizations for painful medical procedures, the number, type, and management of painful medical procedures conducted, and formal medical diagnoses made by physicians including those related to chronic pain and mental health conditions. The data collected from this study will allow for the characterization of childhood risk factors that are associated with chronic pain development in young adulthood. This information may help health care teams and caregivers provide better support and treatment to children in the future, thus reducing the burden of chronic pain on individuals, families, and health services.
Supporting Information
Important LInks
