Having a traumatic experience as a child – for example, abuse or deprivation – can have a lifelong impact. People who report having several adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, are more likely to have health problems later in life.

The Consortium Against Pain InEquality (CAPE) aims to further understand how ACEs might lead to chronic pain in adulthood. We want to consider how other factors (such as mental health or support from friends or family) contribute to pain vulnerability. Our main question is: Do ACEs cause an increased risk of chronic pain in later life, and, if so, what roles do other factors play?

Using existing data from several cohorts, of which the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children is one, we will run analyses to better understand the factors that may contribute to, or protect against, developing chronic pain, trying to describe the different ways ACEs (of different types, number and characteristics) may be linked to chronic pain (‘causal pathways’).