• Christiana Owiredua, Ida Flink, and Katja Boersma.
• Subject of Psychology, Center for Health and Medical Psychology, School of Law, Psychology and Social Work, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.
• Eur J Pain. 2023 Mar 1; 27 (3): 390400390-400.

BackgroundAdolescents with recurrent pain miss out from school more often than pain-free peers. Research has so far used cross-sectional designs, focusing on non-specific absenteeism in clinical samples. Hence, it is unknown whether estimates of absenteeism are specifically linked to the pain itself or reflects the characteristics of clinical samples.ObjectivesThis study aimed to prospectively explore pain-related school absenteeism in a non-clinical sample, its variance and potential risk factors.MethodsThis prospective study followed a cohort of 1300 Sweden-based adolescents (mean age = 16.9; 17.2% immigrants; 62.7% girls) with recurrent pain (headache, abdominal and/or musculoskeletal pain) through self-reports at two assessment points 12 months apart.ResultsOverall, 64.2% reported any absenteeism at follow-up and about half of these (26.2%) reported frequent absenteeism. Adolescents who indicated missing school were more often girls, slightly older and had a higher overall pain burden and stressor levels. Yet, after adjusting for previous absenteeism, independent predictors were age, pain intensity, medication use and stress associated with school attendance. Further to this, immigrant status predicted frequent absenteeism.ConclusionsMany adolescents with pain frequently miss out from school due to pain. Identified risk factors points at pain characteristics and coping, stressors associated with participation and advancing age. Taken together, the burden of pain and its correlates emerge earlier and escalate with increasing age hence, early interventions targeting broader domains are needed.SignificanceThis study adds substantially to the field by estimating the prevalence of pain-specific school absenteeism in a large sample of adolescents with recurrent pain in the general population using a prospective design. Furthermore, it identifies risk factors of pain-specific absenteeism from a broader context of the adolescent's life with independent predictors being the previous history of absenteeism, age, immigrant status, pain intensity, medication use and stress related to school attendance.© 2022 The Authors. European Journal of Pain published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Pain Federation - EFIC ®.

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