Lower resting-state functional connectivity between frontoparietal and sensory networks is associated with recent pain intensity in a community sample of youth

Self-reported pain symptoms are highly prevalent during adolescence and are associated with significant individual and societal burden; yet their neurobiological correlates remain insufficiently characterized, particularly in large, community-based cohorts. Identifying patterns in resting-state functional connectivity associated with adolescent pain characteristics may elucidate neural factors relevant to future pain and related health risks. The present cross-sectional study utilized linear mixed-effects models to examine associations between resting-state functional connectivity and past-month pain characteristics (average and worst pain intensity, pain-related limitations, daily pain duration, and number of pain body regions) in youth from Year 2 of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD). No significant differences in connectivity were observed between youth with (n = 2,364, 47.7% female, average age = 12.04) or without (n = 4,447, 46.4% female, average age = 11.99) past-month pain. However, among youth reporting pain, higher average pain intensity was associated with lower connectivity between the frontoparietal network and sensorimotor hand, sensorimotor mouth, and auditory networks, as well as greater connectivity between auditory and visual networks, and between frontoparietal and cinguloparietal networks (FDR-corrected p < 0.01). Higher worst pain intensity showed a similar pattern. No significant associations were observed for pain-related limitations, daily pain duration, or number of pain body regions. Together, these findings highlight altered connectivity between frontoparietal and distributed sensory networks as a potential neural marker of higher pain intensity.