Macchia Lucía, Okafor Chukwuemeka N, Breedlove Thomas, Shiba Koichiro, Piper Alan, Johnson Byron, VanderWeele Tyler J
School of Health and Medical Sciences, City St George's, University of London, London, UK.
Long School of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, San Antonio, USA, TX.
Commun Med (Lond). 2025 Aug 7;5(1):337. doi: 10.1038/s43856-025-00997-2.
The socioeconomic, psychosocial, and behavioural factors that influence physical pain have been largely explored. However, evidence on the childhood circumstances that shape physical pain in adulthood is scarce.
Using a nationally representative dataset of 202,898 individuals (Age range: 18-99, 49% female, 51% male, 0.03% other) from 22 countries and a random effects meta-analysis, we examine 13 potential childhood predictors of physical pain in adulthood.
We find that childhood experiences, personal attributes, and familial and social circumstances have meaningful and varied associations with adulthood levels of physical pain. Specifically, we find that people whose parents were divorced, single, or died (vs married) when they were children, those who reported that their family found it very difficult to live with their family's household income when they were growing up (vs got by), those who experienced abuse (vs not), felt like an outsider (vs not), reported poor physical health while growing up (vs good) and reported more frequent religious attendance at age 12 (vs never) have a greater risk of experiencing pain later in life. The strength of these associations differs by country reflecting diverse societal influences.
Our study provides valuable insights on the early-life experiences that shape physical pain in adulthood. These findings enhance our understanding of early-life predictors of adult wellbeing and offer comprehensive evidence for designing interventions to reduce physical pain levels.
影响身体疼痛的社会经济、心理社会和行为因素已得到广泛研究。然而，关于塑造成年后身体疼痛的童年环境的证据却很少。
我们使用来自22个国家的202898名个体（年龄范围：18 - 99岁，49%为女性，51%为男性，0.03%为其他）的具有全国代表性的数据集，并进行随机效应荟萃分析，研究了成年后身体疼痛的13个潜在童年预测因素。
我们发现童年经历、个人特质以及家庭和社会环境与成年后的身体疼痛程度存在有意义且多样的关联。具体而言，我们发现那些在童年时父母离异、单身或去世（相对于已婚）的人，那些报告在成长过程中家庭觉得靠家庭收入很难维持生计（相对于勉强维持）的人，那些经历过虐待（相对于未经历）、感觉自己是局外人（相对于不是）、在成长过程中报告身体健康状况不佳（相对于良好）以及在12岁时报告更频繁参加宗教活动（相对于从不参加）的人，在晚年经历疼痛的风险更大。这些关联的强度因国家而异，反映了不同的社会影响。
我们的研究为塑造成年后身体疼痛的早期生活经历提供了有价值的见解。这些发现增进了我们对成年幸福早期预测因素的理解，并为设计降低身体疼痛水平的干预措施提供了全面的证据。
