Childhood hospitalization and chronic intractable pain in adults: a controlled retrospective study.

Three groups of patients have been studied in order to elucidate the relationship between childhood hospitalization and chronic intractable pain in adults. The groups were: patients referred to a pain clinic, psychiatric patients with a depressive illness, and patients attending a rheumatology clinic. The findings suggest that early hospitalization is related to the genesis of both depressive illness and intractable pain: in the former occurring in the preschool years and in the latter, during school age. The significance of these relationships is discussed.