• Inese Gobina, Jari Villberg, Raili Välimaa, Jorma Tynjälä, Ross Whitehead, Alina Cosma, Fiona Brooks, Franco Cavallo, Kwok Ng, Margarida Gaspar de Matos, and Anita Villerusa.
• Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Institute of Public Health, Rīga Stradinš University, Rīga, Latvia.
• Eur J Pain. 2019 Feb 1; 23 (2): 316-326.

BackgroundReports of the overall chronic pain prevalence and its associated demographic characteristics among adolescents vary greatly across existing studies. Using internationally comparable data, this study investigates age, sex and country-level effects in the prevalence of chronic single-site and multi-site pain among adolescents during the last six months preceding the survey.MethodsData (n = 214,283) from the 2013/2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study were used including nationally representative samples of 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds from general schools in 42 participating countries. Multilevel logistic regression analyses were used.ResultsThe overall proportion of adolescents reporting chronic weekly pain during the last six months was high (44.2%). On average, in comparison with different specific localized types of single-site pain, the prevalence of multi-site pain was more common varying from 13.2% in Armenia to 33.8% in Israel. Adolescent age and sex were strong predictors for reporting pain, but significantly different demographic patterns were found in the cross-country analyses. The most consistent findings indicate that multi-site pain was more prevalent among girls across all countries and that the prevalence increased with age.ConclusionsInternationally comparable data suggest that self-reported chronic pain among adolescents is highly prevalent, but different age and sex patterns across countries exist. Adolescents with chronic pain are not a homogenous group. Chronic pain co-occurrence and differences in chronic pain characteristics should be addressed in both clinical and public health practice for effective adolescent chronic pain management and prevention.SignificanceChronic pain co-occurrence is common during adolescence across countries, the prevalence being among girls and in older age groups. Significant cross-country variations in the chronic pain prevalence and chronic pain patterns among adolescents exist. Significant country differences emerge for specific chronic pain patterns in association with adolescent demographics.© 2018 European Pain Federation - EFIC®.

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