Sexual, Physical, Verbal/Emotional Abuse and Unexplained Chest Pain

Objectives: Approximately one third of patients with non cardiac chest pain (NCCP) report a history of abuse, however no data exists on the prevalence of abuse among people with unexplained chest pain in the general population. We aimed to determine if there is a relationship between childhood sexual, physical, emotional abuse and unexplained chest pain, and to identify whether any potential relationship is being driven by an association with psychological distress. Methods: Subjects were identified from 2 previous random population surveys that included people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and/or functional dyspepsia (FD) and healthy controls. People in the unexplained chest pain group (n = 27) had chest pain in the past 12 months that was not heartburn or heart disease. People in the comparison group (n = 60) did not have chest pain for more than 12 months. Self-reported abuse and psychological variables were assessed using validated measures. Results: Emotional/verbal abuse (20.8% versus 4.4%, P = 0.032) and physical abuse (16.7% versus 2.2%, P = 0.028) were significantly more common in people with unexplained chest pain versus the comparison group. Only a history of emotional/verbal abuse was a significant independent predictor of meeting criteria for unexplained chest pain (OR = 5.66; 95%CI 1.01-31.80, P=0.049) even after controlling for IBS and/or FD (OR = 5.45; 95%CI 0.96-30.83, P = 0.05), but not when depression was controlled for (OR = 4.70; 95%CI 0.90-27.61), P = 0.08. Conclusions: A history of childhood emotional/verbal abuse is a risk factor for having unexplained chest pain but the association may be moderated by psychological distress, specifically depression. (Contains 3 tables.)