Estimating the longitudinal association between pain characteristics and clinical outcomes in young people with mental ill-health

Background Mental ill-health has a major impact on young people, with pain often co-occurring. We estimated the prevalence and impact of pain in young people with mental ill-health. Methods Longitudinal data (baseline and three-month follow-up) of 1,107 Australian young people (aged 12–25 years) attending one of five youth mental health services. Multi-level linear mixed models estimated associations between pain characteristics (frequency, intensity, and limitations) and outcomes with false discovery rate (FDR) adjustment. Pain characteristics were baseline-centered to estimate if the baseline score ( between-participant effect ) and/or change from baseline ( within-participant effect) was associated with outcomes. Results At baseline, 16% reported serious pain more than 3 days, 51% reported at least moderate pain, and 25% reported pain-related activity limitations in the last week. Between participants, higher serious pain frequency was associated with greater anxiety symptoms ( β [95%CI]: 0.90 [0.45, 1.35], FDR-p=0.001), higher pain intensity was associated with greater symptoms of depression (1.50 [0.71, 2.28], FDR-p=0.001), anxiety (1.22 [0.56, 1.89], FDR-p=0.002), and suicidal ideation (3.47 [0.98, 5.96], FDR-p=0.020), and higher pain limitations were associated with greater depressive symptoms (1.13 [0.63, 1.63], FDR-p<0.001). Within participants, increases in pain intensity were associated with increases in tobacco use risk (1.09 [0.48, 1.70], FDR-p=0.002), and increases in pain limitations were associated with increases in depressive symptoms (0.99 [0.54, 1.43], FDR-p<0.001) and decreases in social and occupational functioning (−1.08 [−1.78, −0.38], FDR-p=0.009). Conclusions One-in-two young people seeking support for mental ill-health report pain. Youth mental health services should consider integrating pain management.