IntroductionChronic pain is a significant health problem worldwide, with a prevalence in the general population of approximately 40%. Alexithymia — the personality trait of having difficulties with emotional awareness and self-regulation — has been reported to contribute to an increased risk of several chronic diseases and health conditions, and limited research indicates a potential role for alexithymia in the development and maintenance of chronic pain. However, no study has yet examined the associations between alexithymia and chronic pain in the general population.MethodsWe administered measures assessing alexithymia, pain, disability, anxiety, depression, and life satisfaction to 927 adults in Hisayama, Japan. We classified the participants into four groups (low-normal alexithymia, middle-normal alexithymia, high-normal alexithymia, and alexithymic) based on their responses to the alexithymia measure. We calculated the risk estimates for the criterion measures by a logistic regression analysis.ResultsControlling for demographic variables, the odds ratio (OR) for having chronic pain was significantly higher in the high-normal (OR: 1.49, 95% CI: 1.07–2.09) and alexithymic groups (OR: 2.56, 95% CI: 1.47–4.45) compared to the low-normal group. Approximately 40% of the participants belonged to these two high-risk groups. In the subanalyses of the 439 participants with chronic pain, the levels of pain intensity, disability, depression, and anxiety were significantly increased and the degree of life satisfaction was decreased with elevating alexithymia categories.ConclusionsThe findings demonstrate that, in the general population, higher levels of alexithymia are associated with a higher risk of having chronic pain. The early identification and treatment of alexithymia and negative affect may be beneficial in preventing chronic pain and reducing the clinical and economic burdens of chronic pain. Further research is needed to determine if this association is due to a causal effect of alexithymia on the prevalence and severity of chronic pain.

BackgroundPrevious research has suggested that extraordinary adverse experiences during childhood, such as abuse, are possible risk factors for the development of chronic pain. However, the relationship between the perceived parental bonding style during childhood and chronic pain has been much less studied.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, 760 community-dwelling Japanese adults were asked if they had pain that had been present for six months or more. They completed the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), a self-administrated questionnaire designed to assess perceived parental bonding, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 to assess current depressive symptoms. The PBI consists of care and overprotection subscales that are analyzed by assigning the parental bonding style to one of four quadrants: Optimal bonding (high care/low overprotection), neglectful parenting (low care/low overprotection), affectionate constraint (high care/high overprotection), and affectionless control (low care/high overprotection). Logistic regression analysis was done to estimate the contribution of the parental bonding style to the risk of chronic pain, controlling for demographic variables.ResultsCompared to the optimal bonding group, the odds ratios (ORs) for having chronic pain were significantly higher in the affectionless control group for paternal bonding (OR: 2.21, 95 % CI: 1.50-3.27) and for maternal bonding (OR: 1.60, 95 % CI: 1.09-2.36). After adjusting for depression, significance remained only for paternal bonding.ConclusionThe results demonstrate that the parental bonding style during childhood is associated with the prevalence of chronic pain in adults in the general population and that the association is more robust for paternal bonding than for maternal bonding.

Objectives To investigate the association of loneliness and its component subscales with the risk of dementia in a general Japanese older population. Method A total of 1,141 community-dwelling Japanese residents aged ≥65 years without dementia were prospectively followed up for a median 5.0 years. We evaluated any loneliness and its component subscales—namely, social and emotional loneliness—by using the 6-Item de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) of each loneliness type on the risk of dementia controlling for demographic factors, lifestyle factors, physical factors, social isolation factors, and depression. Results During the follow-up, 114 participants developed dementia. The age- and sex-adjusted incidence rate of dementia was significantly greater in participants with any loneliness and emotional loneliness than those without. The multivariable-adjusted HRs (95% confidence intervals) of participants with any loneliness and emotional loneliness on incident dementia were 1.61 (1.08-2.40) and 1.65 (1.07-2.54), respectively, as compared to those without. However, there was no significant association between social loneliness and dementia risk. In subgroup analyses of social isolation factors, excess risks of dementia associated with emotional loneliness were observed in participants who had a partner, lived with someone, or rarely communicated with relatives or friends, but such association was not significant in participants who had no partner, lived alone, or frequently communicated with friends or relatives. Discussion The present study suggested that loneliness, especially emotional loneliness, was a significant risk factor for the development of dementia in the general older population in Japan.

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BackgroundSleep disturbance and poor sleep quality are major health problems worldwide. One potential risk factor for the development and maintenance of sleep disturbance is the parenting style experienced during childhood. However, its role in sleep disturbance in adulthood has not yet been estimated. This Japanese population study was done to clarify the relation between the parenting styles “care” and “overprotection” during childhood and sleep disturbance in adulthood.MethodsA total of 702 community-dwelling Japanese residents aged ≥ 40 years were assessed in 2011 for their perceptions of the parenting style of their parents by use of the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) and for sleep disturbance by use of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The odds ratio (OR) for sleep disturbance (a global PSQI score > 5) was calculated using a logistic regression model.ResultsThe prevalence of sleep disturbance was 29 %. After adjusting for sociodemographic, lifestyle, and physical factors in a comparison with the optimal parenting styles (high care and low overprotection), the ORs for sleep disturbance by men were significantly higher for low paternal care, by 2.49 times (95 % confidence interval [CI]: 1.21–5.09), and for high overprotection, by 2.40 times (95 % CI: 1.19–4.85), while the ORs were not significant for low maternal care and high overprotection. For women the only significant factor was high maternal overprotection, by 1.62 times (95 % CI: 1.05–2.52), while the ORs were not significant for low maternal care, low paternal care and high paternal overprotection. The association remained significant for high paternal overprotection for men after additionally controlling for depression.ConclusionsThis study suggests that parenting style, especially inadequate care and excessive overprotection during childhood, is related to sleep disturbance in adulthood and that the association is much more significant for parents of the same sex as the child.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-016-0926-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.