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Chronic back pain is a common problem that negatively impacts the wellbeing of many adolescents. Prior research suggests that the prevalence of chronic back pain has increased over the last decades, but research on this issue is scarce, single country-based, and has yielded inconsistent results. This study aimed to examine trends in the prevalence of chronic back pain over time in adolescents aged 11, 13 and 15, using data from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey. We conducted a secondary analysis of data from 650,851 adolescents, retrieved from four waves (2001/02, 2005/06, 2009/10 and 2013/14) of HBSC data from 33 countries or regions. The prevalence of back pain was higher (1) in each successive survey over time (18.3% in 2001/02, 19.3% in 2005/06, 20.4% in 2009/10 and 21.6% in 2013/14), (2) in girls (21.9%) compared to boys (17.8%), and (3) in older adolescents compared to younger ones (14.5% in 11-year-olds, 19.6% in 13-year-olds and 25.5% in 15-year-olds). The increase in prevalence from 2001/02 to 2013/14 was more marked in older girls compared to younger girls, and in older boys compared to younger boys, and it ranged between 1% for 11-year-old boys and 7% for 15-year-old girls. More resources should be allocated to the prevention and treatment of chronic back pain in adolescents, especially for older girls. Perspective: The prevalence of chronic back pain in adolescents has increased from 2001-2002 to 2013-2014, especially in older adolescent girls. These findings underline the need of further research to understand the reason behind the increasing trend, and what programs are better suited to prevent chronic back pain among adolescents. © 2021 United States Association for the Study of Pain, Inc.

Data showed that the NRS-11-Arabic and the VAS-Arabic scores measure the same common construct. In addition, they showed strong statistically significant correlations between NRS-11 and VAS (ranging from 0.83 for the whole sample and 0.83 and 0.84 for the 8-12-year-olds and the 13-18-year-olds, which support its construct validity). These correlations were higher than those between the NRS-11-Arabic and the PCS-Arabic, which support the discriminant validity of NRS-11-Arabic scores. Test-retest reliability was 0.86 for the whole sample, and 0.89 and 0.82 for the 8-12-year-olds and the 13-18-year-olds, respectively, which shows the reliability of the NRS-11-Arabic scores.The data provide preliminary evidence of the unidimensionality, validity and reliability of the NRS-11-Arabic scores, thus supporting its use in clinical and research activities involving Arabic-speaking pediatric samples.

Research has shown that the confinement measures implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19 can have negative effects on people’s lives at multiple levels. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to better understand the mental, physical, and socio-economic status of adults living in Spain during the late stages of the state of emergency caused by COVID-19. Five hundred and forty-four individuals responded to an online survey between 3 June and 30 July 2020. They were asked to report data about their mental and physical health, financial situation, and satisfaction with the information received about the pandemic. Means, percentages, t-test, ANOVAs, and logistic regressions were computed. A third of the participants reported symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress, and worries about their health and the future. Participants also described mild levels of fatigue and pain during lockdown (66%), and a reduction in household income (39%). Respondents that were female, younger, single, and with lower levels of education reported experiencing a greater impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The data showed that the negative effects of lockdown were present in the late stages of the state of emergency. The findings can be used to contribute to the development of programs to prevent or mitigate the negative impact of confinement measures.

Social distancing measures during the lockdown have had a negative impact on chronic pain patients’ function. Research, however, has only focused on the early stages of the first lockdowns. The aim of this study was to improve the understanding of the effects of COVID-19 social distancing measures on individuals with chronic pain living in Spain during the late stages of the lockdown. A group of 361 adults with pain participated in this study. They responded to an online survey and provided information on sociodemographic issues, pain, fatigue, perceived health, and quality of life. The data showed that most participants suffered moderate to severe pain and interferences with pain treatment and an increase in pain intensity during the lockdown. Most participants also informed us that fatigue had worsened during the lockdown (62%). Importantly, females with lower monthly family income and lower education have been found to be associated with greater levels of pain and fatigue. Despite this, participants perceived themselves as having good health and good quality of life. The findings from this study can be used to inform policy and specific responses for future COVID-19 waves and future pandemics where social distancing measures must be implemented.

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This study sought to better understand the associations between perfectionistic selfpresentation and measures of pain intensity, pain catastrophizing, pain interference, and fatigue in children and adolescents with pain. In the study, 218 adolescents responded to measures of perfectionistic self-presentation (i.e., perfectionistic self-promotion, nondisplay of imperfection and nondisclosure of imperfection), pain intensity, pain catastrophizing, pain interference, and fatigue. Four hierarchical regression analyses and three mediation analyses were conducted. Our results showed that perfectionistic self-promotion was significantly and independently associated with pain intensity and that nondisplay of imperfection was significantly and independently associated with pain catastrophizing, pain interference, and fatigue. Nondisclosure of imperfection was not significantly associated with any criterion variable. Pain catastrophizing mediated the association between both perfectionistic self-presentation and nondisplay imperfection and pain interference but not between nondisclosure of imperfection and pain interference. The findings provide new information about the role of perfectionistic self-presentation in children and adolescents’ experience of pain. These findings, if replicated, support perfectionism as a potential target of pain treatment in young people.

Electronic health literacy skills and competences are important for empowering people to have an active role in making appropriate health care decisions. The aims of this cross-sectional study were to (1) examine the frequency of use of the Internet for seeking online information about chronic pain, (2) determine the level of eHealth literacy skills in the study sample, (3) identify the factors most closely associated with higher levels of eHealth literacy, and (4) examine self-efficacy as a potential mediator of the association between eHealth literacy and measures of pain and function in a sample of adults with chronic pain. One-hundred and sixty-one adults with chronic pain completed measures assessing internet use, eHealth literacy, pain interference, anxiety, depression, and pain-related self-efficacy. Results indicated that 70% of the participants are active users of the Internet for seeking information related to their health. The level of eHealth literacy skills was not statistically significantly associated with participants’ age or pain interference but was significantly negatively associated with both anxiety and depression. In addition, the findings showed that self-efficacy fully explained the relationship between eHealth literacy and depression and partially explained the relationship between eHealth literacy and anxiety. Self-efficacy should be considered as a treatment target in eHealth literacy interventions, due to its role in explaining the potential benefits of eHealth literacy. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

The Faces Pain Scale-Revised (FPS-R) is widely used to assess pain intensity in young people. The aims of this research were to study the convergent and discriminant validity and reliability properties of a culturally adapted version of the FPS-R for its use with Arabic-speaking individuals. The sample consisted of 292 students living in Lebanon. They were interviewed online, asked to imagine themselves in one of two given situations based on their age (8–12 and 13–18 years old), and then asked rate the intensity of pain they would experience using the FPS-R-Arabic and a Numerical Rating Scale (NRS-11-Arabic). They were also asked to respond to the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS-C-Arabic). Two weeks later, participants were asked to repeat the same procedure. The data showed strong associations between the scores of the FPS-R-Arabic and NRS-11-Arabic (r = 0.72; p < 0.001), which were higher than the associations of the scores of the FPS-Arabic with the PCS-C-Arabic scores (z = 7.36, p < 0.001). The associations between the FPS-R-Arabic scores on the two measurements were also strong (r = 0.76; p < 0.001). The findings support the convergent and discriminant validity and reliability of the FPS-R-Arabic scores when used to measure pain intensity in young people aged 8 to 18 years old. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

The aims of this study were twofold: 1) to better understand the associations between pain-related cognitions and pain severity, and psychological and physical function, and 2) to determine the extent to which these cognitions function as mediators in the association between pain severity and depression in a sample of primary care adult patients with chronic pain and depression.Cross-sectional design.Three hundred twenty-eight patients with both depression and chronic pain from primary care centers responded to measures of pain severity, pain interference, depression severity, and pain-related cognitions (including measures of catastrophizing and other pain-related beliefs). We performed three hierarchical regression analyses and two multiple regression analyses.The helplessness domain of pain catastrophizing was positively associated with pain severity, depression severity, and pain interference and mediated the relationship between depression and pain severity and vice versa. Beliefs about disability showed a positive association with pain severity, pain interference, and depression severity, and also mediated the relationship between pain severity and depression. Believing in a medical cure was positively associated with pain interference and negatively associated with depression; emotion beliefs were positively associated with pain severity.These findings provide important new information about the associations between several pain-related cognitions and pain severity, depression, and pain interference and the potential mediating roles that these cognitions play in the associations between pain severity and depression in patients with both chronic pain and depression in the primary care setting.© 2020 American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permi