Purpose

The current longitudinal observational study aimed to explore how chronic pain among schoolchildren changed before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how changes in chronic pain were related to changes in psychological wellbeing and COVID-19-related experiences.

Methods

Data were collected from N = 777 German schoolchildren (aged 9–17 years) at two assessments before and one assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Participants self-reported chronic pain experience, anxiety, depression, and quality of life across all assessments; and COVID-19-related experiences at the last assessment. Trajectories of anxiety, depression, and quality of life as well as COVID-19-related experiences were analyzed separately for groups of stable chronic pain trajectories compared to chronic pain trajectories that changed during the pandemic.

Results

Chronic pain prevalence was lowest at the assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic (22.8% vs. 29.2% and 29.9% before the pandemic). However, 4.6% experienced new chronic pain onset during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was preceded by heightened depression and anxiety, as well as lowered quality of life scores. These students were also more likely to describe time with their family during the COVID-19 pandemic as tense compared to students who did not develop chronic pain. During the COVID-19 pandemic boys were more likely to recover from ongoing chronic pain than girls.

Conclusions

Overall, during the COVID-19 pandemic the prevalence of chronic pain decreased. However, stressful situations and pre-existing vulnerabilities in psychological wellbeing can facilitate the development of chronic pain during the pandemic.

中文翻译：

---

在 COVID-19 大流行之前和期间，学童的慢性疼痛及其与心理健康的关系

目的

目前的纵向观察研究旨在探讨在 COVID-19 大流行之前和期间学童的慢性疼痛如何变化，以及慢性疼痛的变化如何与心理健康和 COVID-19 相关经历的变化相关。

方法

在 COVID-19 大流行封锁之前的两次评估和一次评估中，从 N = 777 名德国学童（9-17 岁）收集了数据。参与者在所有评估中自我报告慢性疼痛经历、焦虑、抑郁和生活质量；和上次评估中与 COVID-19 相关的经验。与大流行期间发生变化的慢性疼痛轨迹相比，针对稳定的慢性疼痛轨迹组分别分析了焦虑、抑郁和生活质量的轨迹以及与 COVID-19 相关的经历。

结果

在 COVID-19 大流行期间的评估中，慢性疼痛患病率最低（22.8% 对大流行前的 29.2% 和 29.9%）。然而，在 COVID-19 大流行期间，4.6% 的人经历了新的慢性疼痛发作。在此之前，抑郁和焦虑加剧，以及生活质量评分降低。与没有出现慢性疼痛的学生相比，这些学生也更有可能将 COVID-19 大流行期间与家人在一起的时间描述为紧张。在 COVID-19 大流行期间，男孩比女孩更有可能从持续的慢性疼痛中康复。

结论

总体而言，在 COVID-19 大流行期间，慢性疼痛的患病率有所下降。然而，压力情况和心理健康方面先前存在的脆弱性可能会促进大流行期间慢性疼痛的发展。