Do abused young children feel less pain?

Among the 78 included children, pain was significantly less recognized in the abused children vs. the controls (relative risk = 0.63; 95% CI: 0.402-0.986; p = 0.04). We observed a discrepancy between the nurses' and doctors' scores for the pain assessments (Kappa coefficient = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.40-0.77). Our results demonstrate that pain expression in abused children is under recognized by medical staff. They also suggest that abused children may have reduced pain expression after a traumatic event. Paying particular attention to the pain of abused children may also optimize the analgesic treatment.