Adolescents With Back Pain More Likely to Drink, Smoke, and Have Depression & Anxiety

November 28, 2018

Be aware of the relationship between pain and negative adaptive behaviors, especially in teenagers.

Kamper and fellow researchers¹ in Australia and the UK have found a link between back pain during adolescence and depression, anxiety, smoking cigarettes, and drinking alcohol. Thumb through the slides for the details of their study and the take-home points for clinicians.

Substance use in early adolescence may increase the risk of abuse later in life.

Reference

1. Kamper SJ, Michaleff ZA, Campbell P, et al. Back pain, mental health and substance use are associated in adolescents. J Public Health. 2018 Sep 10. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdy129. [Epub ahead of print]