Pain, pain anxiety and emotional and behavioural problems in children with cerebral palsy

Purpose: Pain is commonly experienced in those with cerebral palsy (CP), and previous research suggests an increase in behavioural and emotional problems in children experiencing pain and pain anxiety. Therefore, it was hypothesised that pain intensity and pain anxiety would predict behavioural and emotional problems in children with CP. Method: Parents or guardians of 61 children (38 boys, 23 girls) with CP, aged 5-15 years completed an online questionnaire on pain intensity, pain anxiety and behavioural and emotional problems. Correlation and a multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to examine whether pain intensity and/or pain anxiety predicts behavioural and emotional problems. Results: A total of 59% of participants reported that their children with CP currently experiences pain. Multiple regression analyses revealed that pain intensity (p=0.038) and pain anxiety (p