Associations between pain experiences and gray matter volume in youth in the adolescent brain cognitive development (ABCD) study

Pain in youth is a growing public health concern. While research suggests pervasive differences in brain morphology with pain in adulthood, this relationship is less studied in adolescence. To address this gap, the present study explored pain-related associations with gray matter volume across 82 brain regions in a community sample of 7712 youth (mean age = 11.96) by comparing structural brain measures between those with (n = 2668; 34.6%) and without (n = 5044; 65.4%) past-month pain and examining associations with a continuous latent pain factor composed of average pain ratings, worst pain ratings, and pain limitations. Results showed no significant morphological differences between groups with and without past-month pain. Among participants reporting pain, average pain limitations were generally low, despite varied pain intensity, duration, and number of pain locations. Within this group, higher latent pain scores were associated with lower gray matter volume in six cortical regions (bilateral precentral, right postcentral, right inferior parietal, left supramarginal and left lateral occipital gyri; all p_fdr < 0.05). However, in secondary analyses adjusting for total intracranial volume (ICV), only the result in the right inferior parietal gyrus remained significant, suggesting this region may represent a more robust and regionally specific correlate of pain, independent of global brain effects. Together, these findings suggest that heightened pain experiences are related to lower gray matter volume in predominantly sensorimotor and parietal regions. Future work exploring the temporal dynamics of these morphological differences is needed to clarify their clinical implications.

Perspective

This article describes an association between lower gray matter volume in primarily sensorimotor and parietal areas and higher pain scores among youth reporting past-month pain (n = 2668) in a nonclinical community sample (n = 7712). The findings contribute to the understanding of neurobiological correlates of adolescent pain and pain-related neurodevelopmental patterns.