Sex differences in pain-related symptoms and self-initiated school nurse visits among pre-adolescents.

Abstract

We examined sex differences in self-initiated school nurse visits and pain-associated symptoms in 57 pre-adolescents (36 girls), aged 9-11, with a brief, pain-focused version of the Children's Somatization Inventory (CSI). Using sequential multiple regression, pain symptom scores, sex, and their interaction were analyzed in relation to nurse visits prospectively collected for 1 year. Neither sex, nor pain scores alone, predicted total nurse visits. For girls only, higher pain symptom scores predicted increased total visits and increased visits for complaints with documented physical findings. For both sexes, higher pain symptom scores predicted more visits for complaints without documented physical findings. A complex relationship between sex, pain-related symptoms, and self-initiated nurse visits was found in this pre-adolescent sample. Our findings suggest pain-focused symptom measures may be useful in studies of early predictors of adult pain-related healthcare utilization.