Chronic back pain is a common health complaint among university students. A subset of chronic back pain patients suffer from increased pain sensitivity, a process termed central sensitization. Chronic pain is also associated with cognitive dysfunction, involving attention, memory, and learning. Those are key features of adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This study aimed to assess the associations between adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and central sensitization in students with chronic back pain.

Two hundred twenty-seven students completed the survey, and 90 (39.6%) had back pain for more than 3 months. Students with back pain had significantly higher central sensitization (P<0.01) and higher attention deficit scores (P=0.05). Significant positive correlations were found between scores of the two questionnaires (r= 0.55, P<0.01). Regression analysis adjusted for age and gender showed that higher attention deficit scores were associated with back pain (odd’s ratio:1.025, P=0.05). The odd’s ratio was attenuated after adding central sensitization to the model (odd’s ratio: 0.99, P=0.70).

The findings of this study suggest that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is associated with elevated central sensitization in patients with chronic back pain. Our results support the hypothesis that central sensitization mediates the effect of attention deficit on back pain.