Meta-Analysis of Pain, Health, and Psychological Outcomes in Children of Parents with Chronic Pain

Children whose parents have chronic pain are thought to be at risk for having more problems with pain, physical health, and psychological health compared to children whose parents are healthy. This project will systematically review the studies completed on this topic, and use statistical methods to combine results across studies. This project will improve on previous reviews that have been done in this area. Electronic databases of research articles were searched for published research articles in English studying pain, health, psychological, or family outcomes in children of parents with chronic pain. Fifty-four articles were identified to be included in the review. These studies included the children of parents with chronic pain of all ages, from birth to adulthood. They also included parents with many different types of chronic pain conditions (e.g., mixed pain samples, headaches, back pain). The results of the statistical analyses showed that children whose mothers, fathers, or both parents had chronic pain had more pain complaints than other children. They also had greater behavioural problems and greater problems with disorders such as depression and anxiety. The results also showed that family functioning was poorer in families where a parent had chronic pain. The results showed that there were no differences in the social skills of children whose parents had chronic pain compared to other children. Newborns whose mothers had chronic pain had higher rates of several adverse birth outcomes (e.g., low birthweight, preterm delivery) compared to other newborns. Overall, children whose parents have chronic pain are at risk for having more problems with pain, physical health, and psychological health compared to other children.