Consultation prevalence among children, adolescents and young adults with pain conditions: A description of age- and gender differences.

Abstract

Pain is a common complaint presented in healthcare, but most epidemiological pain research has focused either on single pain conditions or on the adult population. The aim of this study was to investigate the 2017 consultation prevalence of a wide range of pain conditions in the general population of young people. We used the Skåne Healthcare Register, covering prospectively collected data on all healthcare delivered (primary and secondary care) to the population in the region of Skåne, southern Sweden (population 2017 n=1,344,689). For individuals aged 1-24 in 2017 (n=373,178), we calculated the consultation prevalence, stratified by sex and age, and the standardised morbidity ratio (SMR) to assess overall healthcare consultation. A total of 58,981 (15.8%) individuals consulted at least once for any of the predefined pain conditions. Of these, 13.5% (n=7,996) consulted four or more times for pain. Abdominal pain, joint pain/myalgia, headache and back/neck pain were the most common complaints. Overall, females had higher consultation prevalence than males: 17.6% versus 14.1% (p<.0001). SMR was 1.82 (95% CI=1.74-1.87) for females with pain and 1.51 (95% CI=1.42-1.56) for males with pain. Consultation prevalence increased with age, but this pattern varied between sex and pain condition. Among individuals under the age of 25, a significant proportion consult for pain already in early ages, and they also have high healthcare consultation rates for conditions other than pain. The even higher consultation rates among young females need additional attention, both in the clinic and in research. We present comprehensive 1-year healthcare consultation prevalence data covering all levels of care. A significant proportion of children, adolescents and young adults consult for different pain conditions at multiple occasions warranting greater clinical awareness.