TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2014//
TI  - Fear of severe pain mediates sex differences in pain sensitivity responses to thermal stimuli
JO  - Pain research and treatment
A1  - Horn, Maggie E.
A1  - Alappattu, Meryl J.
A1  - Gay, Charles W.
A1  - Bishop, Mark
SP  - 897953
EP  - 897953
VL  - 2014
IS  - 
N2  - 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.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 2090-1542
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/897953
ID  - ref1
ER  -