Family History of Chronic Pain: What Impact Does It Have on Current Clinical Status? Results From an Italian Study

Although a key factor in understanding intergenerational transmission, family history of chronic pain deserves greater attention, particularly about its role as a potential mediating factor on current psychophysical status, together with other underestimated parameters (e.g., psychiatric comorbidity). The aims of this cross-sectional study were to explore the role of family history of chronic pain in the severity of current clinical status and to examine its association with current psychiatric comorbidity in a sample of adults with chronic pain during their first consultation at a specialist pain service in Italy.

174 patients were consecutively recruited within the 'Pain Therapy Service' at the Parma University Hospital. They completed the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 mental disorders (SCID-5). Inter-group comparisons were explored using the Chi-Square or the Mann-Whitney U test. Associations between family history of chronic pain and a wide range of other relevant clinical/sociodemographic parameters were analysed with binary logistic or multiple linear regression analyses.

72 (41.4%) participants had a family history of chronic pain, with high concordance (68.1%) in the prevalence of the location of pain. Family history of chronic pain was found to predict higher levels of current unemployment and was significantly associated with greater current pain intensity and more frequent non-analgesic use of psychotropic drugs.

A significant proportion of patients with chronic pain have a family history of chronic pain. Although a distal predisposing factor, family history of chronic pain negatively impacts current employment opportunities and contributes to increased individual pain-related suffering.

Regarding existing knowledge, the results of this research highlighted that participants with a family history of chronic pain represent a non-negligible proportion (40%) of chronic pain patients, who also show a high concordance (65%) in pain location with their family members. Further studies on the importance of individual (e.g., genetic vulnerability) and psychosocial (e.g., parental communication style and dysfunctional attachment) variables within the biopsychosocial paradigm are needed to better understand the causal interplay between contextual and internal factors. Anyway, psychosocial intervention can be very helpful in clinical practice to reduce the current impact of distal dysfunctional psychological elements. Furthermore, another interesting finding that emerged from this research is that although distal, this intergenerational relationship was found to predict higher levels of current unemployment and was associated with greater current pain intensity, contributing to negative clinical and functional outcomes in adulthood. Therefore, clinical monitoring of offspring is necessary to promote prevention/early intervention for chronic pain.