Objective:

To explore the potential categories of pain intensity development trajectory in children with recurrent aphthous stomatitis and analyze the influencing factors of category differences.

Approach:

• Study Design: Retrospective longitudinal study involving 200 children with recurrent aphthous stomatitis treated from September 2023 to June 2025.
• Data Collection: Pain scores were collected at four time points: at visit (T0), and on days 3 (T1), 7 (T2), and 14 (T3) post-visit.
• Analysis Method: Latent variable growth mixture model used to classify pain intensity trajectories; univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses conducted to identify influencing factors.

Key Findings:

• Three categories of pain intensity trajectories identified: high pain level relief type (34%, 68 cases), moderate pain level improvement type (41%, 82 cases), and low pain level stable type (25%, 50 cases).
• Independent influencing factors for high pain relief type include ulcer size, number of ulcers, ulcer type, frequency of attacks, and picky eating.
• For moderate pain level improvement type, influencing factors include ulcer classification, frequency of attacks, and picky eating.

Interpretation:

The development trajectory of pain severity in children with recurrent aphthous stomatitis exhibits heterogeneity influenced by various factors.

Limitations:

• Study based on a single hospital's patient population, which may limit generalizability.
• Retrospective design may introduce biases in data collection, potentially affecting the reliability of the findings.

Conclusion:

The findings provide insights into identifying high-risk pain trajectory children and understanding the factors influencing pain severity in recurrent aphthous stomatitis.