Clinical trial NCT04171869: Survey on Sensory Processing Sensitivity in Chronic Pediatric Pain
Official title: Towards a Deeper Understanding of Chronic Pediatric Pain: Exploring the Role of Sensory Processing Sensitivity
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Chronic Pain
Lead sponsor: University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2019-11-21
Enrollment: 150
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 17
Maximum age (years): 19
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Adolescents suffering from persistent or recurrent pain for 3 or more months, community sample, recruited mainly via pain clinics

Brief summary: Background: Pain is defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience and in its chronic form, pain is highly prevalent, up to 25% of children and adolescents are affected by it. The exact etiology of many forms of chronic pain remains unknown. One mechanism that has been proposed to underlie increased pain sensitivity is central sensitization, i.e., increased efficacy of the nervous system in transmitting pain signals, which manifests itself as a lower pain threshold. A lower pain threshold in turn has been recognized as a risk factor for the development of chronic pain. Being more sensitive to pain is one feature commonly shared by those with high sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), who are thought to react more strongly to both positive and negative environmental influences. The relationship between this increased sensitivity and pain tolerance has not been studied to date, but could contribute to our understanding of why some children and adolescents are more vulnerable to developing chronic pain than others.

Objectives and Aims: The aim of this project is to increase scientific understanding of 1) the distribution and correlates of high SPS among children and adolescents suffering from chronic pain, and 2) whether the trait of SPS can help explain increased pain sensitivity and hence vulnerability for chronic pain.

Methods: To determine the distribution (aim 1a) and correlates (aim 1b) of SPS among a population of children and adolescents suffering from chronic pain, an online survey will be conducted. Participants will be asked to complete questionnaires about their SPS as well as pain history and pain characteristics. The distribution of SPS will then be compared to an existing distribution in a sample of healthy children and adolescents.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Adolescents aged 17-19 years
* Persistent or recurrent pain for 3 months or more
* Fluent in German or English

Exclusion Criteria:

* Younger than 17 or older than 19 years
* Acute pain

Primary outcomes:
measure: Highly Sensitive Child Scale
timeFrame: through study completion, an average of 6 months
measure: Functional Disability Inventory for children
timeFrame: through study completion, an average of 6 months
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Basel
country: Switzerland
facility: Faculty of Psychology, University of Basel
Study officials:
affiliation: University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
name: Helen Koechlin, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: