- Title
- Musculoskeletal pain in obese compared with healthy-weight children
- Creator
- Tsiros, Margarita D.; Buckley, Jonathan D.; Howe, Peter R. C.; Walkley, Jeff; Hills, Andrew P.; Coates, Alison M.
- Relation
- Clinical Journal of Pain Vol. 30, Issue 7, p. 583-588
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/AJP.0000000000000017
- Publisher
- Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2014
- Description
- Objectives: To investigate whether obesity is associated with musculoskeletal pain in children. Materials and methods: Obese (n=107) and healthy-weight (n=132) 10-to 13-year-old children (132 males, 107 females) participated in an observational case-control study. Children self-reported pain location (excluding abdominal pain), pain intensity (current and prior week), and pain prevalence (overall and lower limb) using the Pediatric Pain Questionnaire. Body composition was assessed (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry) and children wore an accelerometer for 8 days. Results: After adjustment for accelerometry (weekly average counts per hour) and socioeconomic status, obese children had more intense pain (worst pain, P=0.006), pain in more locations (P≤0.005), and a higher prevalence of lower limb pain (60% vs. 52% respectively, P=0.012) than healthy-weight children. Significant relationships were observed between body mass index and total pain locations (P≤0.004, unadjusted and adjusted) and worst pain intensity (P≤0.009, adjusted for socioeconomic status/accelerometry). There were no significant relationships between percent body fat and pain variables (unadjusted/adjusted analyses, P = 0.262 to 1.0). Discussion: Obesity in children was associated with increased overall and lower limb musculoskeletal pain, for which body mass index was a stronger predictor than adiposity. Clinicians treating obese children should screen for pain and prescribe exercise programs that take their symptoms into account.
- Subject
- body mass index; child; pain; adiposity; obese
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1307062
- Identifier
- uon:21320
- Identifier
- ISSN:0749-8047
- Language
- eng
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