Pain severity trajectory and influencing factors in children with recurrent aphthous stomatitis: a latent variable growth mixture model

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. Methods Conveniently select 200 children with recurrent aphthous stomatitis treated in our hospital from September 2023 to June 2025 as the research subjects, and retrospectively collect the pain dimension scores of the local body sign scores of oral ulcers at the time of visit (T0), as well as on the third day (T1), seventh day (T2), and fourteenth day (T3) after visit. The optimal number of categories was analyzed and named using a latent variable growth mixture model. Clinical data of the children were collected using a self-designed clinical data questionnaire. Independent influencing factors of potential category differences were analyzed by univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression. Results The pain intensity development trajectory of the 200 children with recurrent aphthous stomatitis could be divided into three potential categories: high pain level relief type (68 cases, 34.00%), moderate pain level improvement type (82 cases, 41.00%), and low pain level stable type (50 cases, 25.00%). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that for the high pain relief type, ulcer size, number of ulcers, ulcer type, frequency of attacks, and picky eating are independent influencing factors ( P  < 0.05); For the moderate pain level improvement type, ulcer classification, frequency of attacks, and picky eating are independent influencing factors ( P  < 0.05). Conclusion The development trajectory of pain severity in children with recurrent aphthous stomatitis exhibits certain heterogeneity and is influenced by factors such as ulcer size, number of ulcers, ulcer type, frequency of attacks, and picky eating habits. However, there are differences in the influencing factors of different trajectory categories. The above findings can provide reference for identifying high-risk pain trajectory children.