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Table 1 Patient demographics and clinical characteristics (N = 228)

From: Disordered eating among adolescents with chronic pain: the experience of a pediatric rheumatology subspecialty pain clinic

Characteristic

No disordered eating (n = 177)

Disordered eating (n = 51)

P value

Demographics, n (%)

 Female

141 (79.7)

42 (82.4)

0.67

 Age

14 (12–15)

15 (13–16)

< 0.01

 Race

  White

138 (78.0)

39 (76.5)

0.80

  Black

10 (5.7)

4 (7.8)

  Other

29 (16.4)

8 (15.7)

Clinical Characteristics, n (%); median (IQR)

 Duration of symptoms (months)

12 (7–36)

24 (12–36)

0.25

 Pain frequency

  Intermittent

27 (15.3)

6 (11.8)

0.65

  Constant

138 (78.0)

44 (86.3)

  Intermittent and constant

9 (5.1)

1 (2.0)

 Trigger event

68 (38.4)

14 (27.5)

0.15

 BMI (kg/m2)

  Underweight (<5th percentile)

2 (1.2)

3 (6.0)

0.08

  Normal weight (5th- <85th percentile)

93 (54.1)

27 (54.0)

0.99

  Overweight (85th- <95th percentile)

35 (20.4)

7 (14.0)

0.31

  Obese (≥95th percentile)

42 (24.4)

13 (26.0)

0.82

 Widespreadness of pain (WPI)

5 (1–9)

7 (3–12)

0.03

 Symptom severity score

6 (3–7)

7 (5–9)

0.001

 Beighton Score (0–9)

0 (0–2)

0 (0–2)

0.96

Patient Reported Outcomes, n (%), median (IQR)

 Allodynia

152 (85.9)

45 (88.2)

0.67

 Attending school full time

117 (66.1)

22 (43.1)

< 0.01

 Fatigue

81 (45.8)

33 (64.7)

0.02

 Energy level (0–100%)

70 (50–87)

50 (33–75)

< 0.01

 Abdominal pain

65 (36.7)

38 (74.5)

< 0.001

 Dizziness

63 (35.6)

26 (51.0)

0.05

 Pain (VAS)

60.5 (36–73)

67.5 (40–73)

0.27

 Total body pain

43 (24.3)

21 (41.2)

0.02

 Functional disability (FDI)

23 (14–31)

32.5 (20–39)

< 0.001

 Pain made worse by eating

4 (2.3)

6 (11.8)

0.01

Medical Interventions, n (%)

 Evaluated by gastroenterologist

46 (26.0)

22 (43.1)

0.02

 Endoscopy

28 (15.8)

16 (31.4)

0.01

 Colonoscopy

20 (11.3)

11 (21.6)

0.06

 Upper gastrointestinal study

17 (9.6)

13 (25.5)

< 0.01

 Evaluated by dietician

10 (5.7)

11 (21.6)

0.001

Medical and Psychological Comorbidities, n (%)

 Anxiety

78 (44.1)

34 (66.7)

< 0.01

 Depression

47 (26.6)

25 (49.0)

< 0.01

 Suicidality

26 (14.8)

22 (44.0)

< 0.001

 Conversion disorder

11 (6.3)

2 (4.0)

0.41

 Constipation

3 (1.7)

2 (3.9)

0.31

 Reflux/gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)

3 (1.7)

6 (11.8)

< 0.01

 Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

2 (1.1)

4 (7.8)

0.02

 Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

0 (0.0)

6 (11.8)

< 0.001

  1. IQR Interquartile range, BMI Body mass index (N = 222), measured in kg/m2; Duration of symptoms (N = 225); Trigger event defined as patient reported illness, injury, trauma, or surgery that occurred at or closely prior to the time of pain onset; WPI Widespread pain index (0–19), measure of widespreadness of pain; Symptom severity score (0–12) (N = 224), measure of condition severity; WPI and SS score defined according to the 2010 College of Rheumatology Criteria for Fibromyalgia Syndrome [28]; Beighton score (0–9), measure of joint hypermobility, score of ≥6 indicates hypermobility (N = 208); Energy level (N = 223); VAS Visual analog scale (N = 220), rating of level of pain (0–100) (for patients missing VAS in database, verbal reported pain score (0–10) was multiplied by 10 to supplement missing VAS); FDI Functional disability inventory (N = 224), measure of disability (0–60), with higher scores indicating more functional disability [24,25,26,27]; Suicidality (N = 226); Conversion disorder (N = 224). Of the entire cohort of patients with CMP, 126 patients were diagnosed with diffuse amplified musculoskeletal pain syndrome (AMPS), 76 were diagnosed with localized AMPS, and 36 were diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome