AUTHOR=Stratton Catherine , Vassilopoulos Areti , Brenton J. Nicholas , Potter Kirsten , Vargas Wendy , Rumm Heather , Bartels Andrea , Bailey Mary , Odonkor Charles , Stoll Sharon , Zempsky E. William T. , Yeh E. Ann , Makhani Naila 

TITLE=Interim guidelines for the assessment and treatment of pain in children with multiple sclerosis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=17

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2023.1235945

DOI=10.3389/fnins.2023.1235945

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Introduction</title><p>Pain in multiple sclerosis (MS) is common, but literature on pain in children with MS remains scarce. Pain has physical, psychological, and social implications in MS, and both comprehensive assessment and interdisciplinary management approaches are needed. We sought to develop an interdisciplinary interim guideline for the assessment and management of pain in children with MS.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Methods and materials</title><p>We convened a modified Delphi panel composed of 13 experts in pediatric and adult MS neurology, physiotherapy, pain, patient lived-experience, advanced practice nursing, psychology, physiatry, and MS research. A survey was sent to panelists for anonymous completion. The panel discussed survey themes extracted by the panel chair. The process was repeated twice.</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Results</title><p>Thirteen assessment and treatment recommendations were produced regarding pain in children with MS.</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Discussion</title><p>Future studies will assess implementation of these pain assessment and treatment guidelines in the clinical setting.</p></sec>