The epidemiology of chronic pain in children and adolescents

Abstract

The review highlights the main aspects of the epidemiology of chronic pain (pain lasting more than three months) as a factor that has a significant impact on the quality of life of children and adolescents. The paper presents new data on the epidemiology of headache, abdominal pain, musculoskeletal pain and c ombined pain syndromes. The author draws attention to the importance of alexithymia as a factor aggravating chronic pain in children and adolescents.