Alterations in pain during adolescence and puberty

Hadas Nahman-Averbuch; Rui Li; Katelynn E Boerner; Christopher Lewis; Sarah Garwood; Tonya M Palermo; Abbie Jordan

doi:10.1016/j.tins.2023.01.006

Alterations in pain during adolescence and puberty

Trends Neurosci. 2023 Apr;46(4):307-317. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2023.01.006. Epub 2023 Feb 24.

Authors

Hadas Nahman-Averbuch¹, Rui Li², Katelynn E Boerner³, Christopher Lewis⁴, Sarah Garwood⁵, Tonya M Palermo⁶, Abbie Jordan⁷

Affiliations

¹ Washington University Pain Center and Division of Clinical and Translational Research, Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA. Electronic address: hadas@wustl.edu.
² Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA.
³ Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, and BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁴ Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Department of Pediatrics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Transgender Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
⁵ Transgender Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
⁶ Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA; Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁷ Department of Psychology and Centre for Pain Research, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom.

PMID: 36842946
DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2023.01.006

Abstract

During adolescence and puberty, alterations in pain, both experimental and clinical, are observed. In addition, adolescents undergo extensive biopsychosocial changes as they transition from childhood to adulthood. However, a better understanding of how the biopsychosocial changes during adolescence impact pain is needed to improve pain management and develop targeted pain interventions for adolescents. This review synthesizes the literature on alterations in pain during adolescence in humans, describes the potential biopsychosocial factors impacting pain during adolescence, and suggests future research directions to advance the understanding of the impact of adolescent development on pain.

Keywords: biopsychosocial; brain; development; hormones; nociception; sex.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Child
Humans
Pain*
Puberty*
Young Adult