BETHESDA, Md. (CBSDC) – The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stoke has discovered that chronic pain is different in each person, but that teens of people who suffer from chronic pain are more likely to have chronic pain of their own.
According to a new study, teenage children with parents who go through chronic pain are at a higher risk to suffer from chronic pain as they get older.
HealthDay News reports that the study, which took place in Norway, followed over 5,300 teenagers and their parents. Researchers found that teens were more likely to have chronic pain if one or both of their parents had it. The study found that the pain in the teenager was greater if both parents had it.
Gry Hoftun of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, told HealthDay that the research discovered that “socioeconomic and psychosocial factors did not change the findings, but different types of family structure did have an effect.”
The study, which was published in the Nov. 19 edition of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, brought about a number of issues that remain unsolved.
“The findings are not surprising, but casual factors remain unanswered,” Dr. Bradley Flansbaum, an internist at New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital told HealthDay. “We cannot account for every exposure, particular social influences, and the impact genetics and environment play in the outcome are difficult to parse.”