Brief Report: Psychosocial Factors and Pediatric Noncardiac Chest Pain

Abstract

To investigate the associations between children's perceived chest pain severity, somatization symptoms, depressive symptoms, anxiety sensitivity, and maternal somatization symptoms in children and adolescents with noncardiac chest pain (NCCP). Measures of chest pain and psychosocial functioning were collected from 35 participants (M age = 12.5 years, 54% female) with NCCP and their parents during evaluation at cardiology clinics. Among children presenting for cardiac evaluations, wide variation in ranges of pain severity, episode frequency, and history were observed. Children's somatic symptoms and fear of physiological arousal predicted significant variance in children's chest pain severity. Additionally, children's depressive symptoms and maternal somatization were both significant predictors of children's somatic symptoms. These results suggest NCCP may be part of a broader pattern of somatic responding and sensitivity to physiological arousal. This pattern is associated with both child and maternal functioning. Suggestions for future research are provided.