FRIDAY, April 11, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- A history of adolescent or adult abuse is not associated with pain severity, but is linked to pain-related disability and depression in women with chronic pelvic pain (CPP), according to a study published in the April issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Sawsan As-Sanie, M.D., M.P.H., from the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study involving 273 women who presented to a tertiary referral center for evaluation of CPP. A history of physical or sexual abuse, pain severity, pain disability, and depressive symptoms were assessed with standardized questionnaires. The correlations between adolescent or adult and childhood abuse and pain intensity, pain-related disability, and depressive symptoms were investigated.
The researchers found that none of the abuse categories correlated with pain severity after adjustment for age and education. Greater pain-related disability was predicted by adolescent or adult sexual abuse (odds ratio, 2.39), while higher levels of depression were seen in association with adolescent or adult physical and sexual abuse (both P < 0.05). Significant correlations were seen for level of education with pain intensity, pain-related disability, and depression.
"For our sample of women with CPP, a history of abuse during childhood or adulthood was not associated with differences in pain intensity, but adolescent or adult sexual abuse was associated with greater pain-related disability," the authors write.
One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical and health care training industries.
Abstract
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