Does Quantitative Sensory Testing Improve Prediction of Chronic Pain Trajectories? A Longitudinal Study of Youth With Functional Abdominal Pain Participating in a Randomized Controlled Trial of Cognitive Behavioral Treatment

OBJECTIVES: Youth with functional abdominal pain (FAP) experience significant pain-related distress and functional impairment. Although quantitative sensory testing protocols have identified alterations in pain modulatory systems that distinguish youth with FAP from healthy controls, the extent to which evoked pain responses predict subsequent trajectories of pain symptoms and disability over and above established psychosocial risk factors is unclear. METHODS: The present study included 183 adolescents with FAP who were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial comparing an 8-week, internet-delivered program of cognitive behavior therapy (n = 90) or pain education (n = 93). Participants completed a quantitative sensory testing protocol prior to the intervention and were followed for 12-months post-treatment. RESULTS: Whereas adolescents with FAP who exhibited stronger baseline conditioned pain modulation reported decreases in pain-related interference over follow-up (b=−.858, SE=.396, p=.032), those with weaker conditioned pain modulation exhibited high, relatively stable levels of pain-related interference over time (b=−.642, SE=.400, p=.110). Conditioned pain modulation status predicted changes in pain-related interference after controlling for the effects of treatment condition and psychosocial risk factors. Static measures of pain sensitivity (i.e., pain threshold, pain tolerance) and temporal summation of second pain were not associated with changes in measures of abdominal pain, gastrointestinal symptom severity, or pain-related interference over follow-up. DISCUSSION: The present findings contribute to a growing literature on the predictive utility of quantitative sensory testing indices and suggest that conditioned pain modulation may complement existing psychosocial risk measures in determining individualized pain-related risk profiles. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02327377