Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014:2014:897953.
doi: 10.1155/2014/897953. Epub 2014 Jan 5.

Fear of severe pain mediates sex differences in pain sensitivity responses to thermal stimuli

Maggie E Horn  1 , Meryl J Alappattu  1 , Charles W Gay  1 , Mark Bishop  1
Affiliations

Fear of severe pain mediates sex differences in pain sensitivity responses to thermal stimuli

Maggie E Horn et al. Pain Res Treat. 2014.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to examine the relationship of sex and pain-related fear in pain intensity reports to thermal stimuli and whether sex differences in reported pain intensity were mediated by pain-related fear. 177 participants, 124 female (23.5 ± 4.5 years old), filled out a demographic and fear of pain questionnaire (FPQ-III). Experimental pain testing was performed using thermal stimuli applied to the lower extremity. Participants rated the intensity of pain using the numerical pain rating scale (NPRS). Independent t-tests, Sobel's test, and linear regression models were performed to examine the relationships between sex, fear of pain, and pain sensitivity. We found significant sex differences for thermal pain threshold temperatures (t = 2.04, P = 0.04) and suprathreshold pain ratings for 49°C (t = -2.12, P = 0.04) and 51°C (t = -2.36, P = 0.02). FPQ-severe score mediated the effect of suprathreshold pain ratings of 49° (t = 2.00, P = 0.05), 51° (t = 2.07, P = 0.04), and pain threshold temperatures (t = -2.12, P = 0.03). There are differences in the pain sensitivity between sexes, but this difference may be mediated by baseline psychosocial factors such as fear of pain.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Presumptive mediation model. An illustration of proposed mediation model. a, b, and c are path coefficients. Values in parentheses are standard errors of those path coefficients. Aroian version of the “Sobel test” was used to test indirect effects (equation = z-value = a∗b/SQRT (b2∗sa2 + a2∗sb2 + sa2∗sb2). Key: a = raw (unstandardized) regression coefficient for the association between IV and mediator, s a = standard error of a, b = raw coefficient for the association between the mediator and the DV (when the IV is also a predictor of the DV); s b = standard error of b.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Fear of pain questionnaire domains by sex.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Numerical pain rating in response to thermal stimuli by sex.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a)–(c) Results of mediation analyses.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Advancing Pain Research, C., and Education. Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for TransForming Prevention, Care, Education, and Research. 2011. - PubMed
    1. Hasselstrom J, Liu-Palmgren J, Rasjo-Wraak G. Prevalence of pain in general practice. European Journal of Pain. 2002;6(5):375–385. - PubMed
    1. Fillingim RB, Maixner W. Gender differences in the responses to noxious stimuli. Pain Forum. 1995;4(4):209–221.
    1. Berkley KJ. Sex differences in pain. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 1997;20(3):371–380. - PubMed
    1. Riley JL, III, Robinson ME, Wise EA, Myers CD, Fillingim RB. Sex differences in the perception of noxious experimental stimuli: a meta-analysis. Pain. 1998;74(2-3):181–187. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources