Wilkins, Krista L.McGrath, PatrickFinley, G. AllenKatz, Joel2012-05-112012-05-112004Clinical Journal of Pain. 20(5), 293-301. (2004)http://hdl.handle.net/10315/14337Objective: To prospectively study factors associated with the occurrence of phantom sensations and pains in a pre-selected sample of child and adolescent amputees reporting phantom limbs. Design: Prospective diary study over 1 month. Participants: Fourteen child and adolescent amputees from 10-18 years of age who were missing a limb due to trauma (n = 12) or congenital limb deficiency (n = 2), and who had previously reported having phantom sensations and pain. Main Outcome Measure: Diary used to assess the occurrence of non-painful and painful phantom sensations. Items included age, sex, location and cause of amputation, past experience with stump pain and pre-amputation pain, and intensity, quality, duration, and triggers of the sensations and pains. Results: Thirteen amputees reported having 104 incidents of non-painful phantom sensations with an average intensity of 4.17 (SD = 2.14) on a 0-10 rating scale. Fifty-three incidents of phantom pain with an average intensity of 6.43 (SD = 1.76) were recorded by 8 amputees. Both amputees with a congenital limb deficiency reported phantom phenomena. Girls reported more psychosocial triggers than did boys whereas boys were more likely than girls to report that they could not identify a trigger (P = 0.0001). Boys also reported a higher proportion of physical triggers than psychosocial triggers while there were no differences for girls (P = 0.0001). Discussion: Child and adolescent amputees experience phantom sensations and pains on a regular basis over a 1-month period. Differences in triggers of phantom phenomena between boys and girls may be due to differences in activities, awareness, attribution, and willingness to report psychosocial triggers.enThis is a non-final version of an article published in final form in Clinical Journal of Pain, 20(5), 293-301. (2004)childrenamputeephantom sensationphantom painprospective studyArticlehttp://journals.lww.com/clinicalpain/pages/default.aspxhttp://www.lww.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/topCategories_11851_-1_12551http://journals.lww.com/clinicalpain/Abstract/2004/09000/Prospective_Diary_Study_of_Nonpainful_and_Painful.3.aspx