Abstract
Musculoskeletal pain is exceedingly common in young adults. With the aim of studying these symptoms in schoolchildren, a questionnaire survey was carried out among children 8, 11, 13 and 17 years old. The prevalence of back pain and headaches in 1,245 schoolchildren was studied. Twenty-nine per cent of the students reported back pain and 48% headache. In all age groups studied, both back pain and headaches were more common among girls than boys. Girls also reported more frequent symptoms than boys. In a longitudinal study 471 schoolchildren were asked a second time 2 years later. Nine per cent reported back pain and 30% headache in both surveys. Five per cent reported both back pain and headache on both occasions. Despite the reported symptoms most of the pupils did not report health problems. However, pupils with reported pain on both occasions may constitute a risk group for future chronic pain. There were statistically significant relationships between social, psychological and emotional factors and reported symptoms. No relationship between physical factors and reported symptoms were noted. The observed relationships are not proof of causal relations but did indicate areas of problems which make interventions targeting pupils at risk an appropriate measure.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brattberg G, Thorslund M, Wikman A. The prevalence of pain in a general population. The results of a postal survey in a county of Sweden. Pain 1989; 37: 215–222.
Sternbach RA. Survey of pain in the United States: the Nuprin Pain Report. Clin J Pain 1986; 1: 49–53.
Von Korff M, Dworkin SF, Le Resche L, Kruger A. An epidemiologic comparison of pain complaints. Pain 1988; 32: 173–183.
Rothman KJ. Modern Epidemiology. Little, Brown and Company, Boston/Toronto, 1986.
Feuerstein M, Sult S, Houle M. Environmental stressors and chronic low back pain: life events, family and work environment. Pain 1985; 22: 295–307.
Holm JE, Holroyd KA, Hursey KG, Penzien DB. The role of stress in recurrent tension headache. Headache 1986; 26: 160–167.
Martin PR, Nathan PR. Differential prevalence rates for headaches: a function of stress and social support? Headache 1987; 27: 329–333.
Demers-Desrosiers LA, Cohen KR, Catchlove RFH, Ramsay RA. The measure of symbolic function in alexithymic pain patients. Psychother Psychosom 1983; 39: 65–76.
Kinder BN, Curtiss G. Alexithymia among empirically derived subgroups of chronic back pain patients. J Pers Assess 1990; 54: 351–362.
Lesser M. A review of the alexithymia concept. Psychosom Med 1981; 43: 531–543.
Postone N. Alexithymia in chronic pain patients. General Hospital Psychiatry 1986; 8: 163–167.
Edwards PW, Zeichner A, Kuczmierczyk AR, Boczkowski J. Familial pain models: the relationship between family history of pain and current pain experience. Pain 1985; 21: 379–384.
Edwards PW, O'Neill GW, Zeichner A, Kuczmierczyk AR. Effects of familial pain models on pain complaints and coping strategies. Percept Mot Skills 1985; 61: 1053–1054.
Payne B, Norfleet MA. Chronic pain and the family: a review. Pain 1986; 26: 1–22.
Violon A, Giurgea D. Familial models for chronic pain. Pain 1984; 18: 199–203.
Hartrick CT, Dobritt DW, Eckstein L. Clinical impression that familial models are an important influence in the development and expression of chronic pain and pain behavior. Pain 1986; 25: 279–280.
Dalsgaard-Nielsen T, Engberg-Pedersen H, Holm HE. Clinical and statistical investigations of the epidemiology of migraine. An investigation of the onset age, and its relation to sex, adrenarche, menarche and the menstrual cycle in migraine patients, and of the menarche age, sex distribution and frequency of migraine. Dan Med Bull 1970; 17: 138–148.
Shinnar S, D'Souza BJ. The diagnosis and management of headaches in childhood. Pediatr Clin N Am 1981; 29: 79–94.
Deubner DC. An epidemiologic study of migraine and headache in 10–20 year olds. Headache 1977; 17: 173–180.
Ektor-Andersen J, Janzon L, Sjölund B. Social characteristics of patients with chronic pain. Results from the Pain Clinic at Malmö General Hospital in Sweden. Clin J Pain 1993; 9: 183–189.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Brattberg, G. The incidence of back pain and headache among Swedish school children. Qual Life Res 3 (Suppl 1), S27–S31 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00433372
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00433372