scholarly journals The Confounding Effect of Assessor Ethnicity on Subjective Pain Reporting in Women

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Jacob Miguel Vigil ◽  
Patrick Coulombe ◽  
Lauren Nikki Rowell ◽  
Chance Strenth ◽  
Eric Kruger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pain Intensity ◽  
Severe Pain ◽  
Pain Sensitivity ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Random Effects Models ◽  
Subjective Pain ◽  
Lower Pain ◽  
Pain Reporting ◽  
Hispanic White

The current study examines how subjective pain reporting is influenced by the concordant and discordant nature of the ethnic identities of pain expressers (participants) and pain assessors (experimenters). Three discomfort conditions that varied in stimuli intensity (Study 1: mild pain; Study 2: severe pain), and distraction components (Study 3) were used to assess whether pain intensity and tolerance reporting differ with the ethnic identification of the participant and the experimenter. Specifically, 87 Hispanic and 74 Non-Hispanic White (NHW) women (18–51 yrs., Mage = 20.0, SD = 4.3) underwent a cold pressor pain task (CPT) after engaging in minimal procedural interactions with one of the 22 research experimenters (47% Hispanic, 42% females). The procedural interactions with the experimenters included only consenting and instructions, with no interaction between experimenter and participant during the actual CPT. Random-effects models showed that between the 0% and 18% of the variance in pain sensitivity (intensity and tolerance scores) was attributable to characteristics of the experimenters. Controlling for self-esteem, baseline pain levels, and the gender of the experimenter, Hispanic subjects showed higher pain sensitivity (as marked by lower pain tolerance and higher pain intensity scores) following interactions with an NHW rather than a Hispanic experimenter in response to the most severe pain intensity stimuli. These results question the validity of common findings of ethnic differences in pain sensitivity from studies that have not accounted for the ethnic identity of the pain assessor (and the general communicative nature of pain reporting).

scholarly journals Laboratory Personnel Gender and Cold Pressor Apparatus Affect Subjective Pain Reports

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. e13-e18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob M Vigil ◽  
Lauren N Rowell ◽  
Joe Alcock ◽  
Randy Maestes
Keyword(s):  
Pain Sensitivity ◽  
Experimental Pain ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Cold Pain ◽  
Laboratory Personnel ◽  
Subjective Pain ◽  
Lower Pain ◽  
Pain Reporting ◽  
Pain Reports

BACKGROUND: There is no standardized method for cold pressor pain tasks across experiments. Temperature, apparatus and aspects of experimenters vary widely among studies. It is well known that experimental pain tolerance is influenced by setting as well as the sex of the experimenter. It is not known whether other contextual factors influence experimental pain reporting.OBJECTIVES: The present two-part experiment examines whether minimizing and standardizing interactions with laboratory personnel (eg, limiting interaction with participants to consenting and questions and not during the actual pain task) eliminates the influence of examiner characteristics on subjective pain reports and whether using different cold pain apparatus (cooler versus machine) influences reports.METHODS:The present experiment manipulated the gender of the experimenter (male, female and transgender) and the type of cold pressor task (CPT) apparatus (ice cooler versus refrigerated bath circulator). Participants conducted the CPT at one of two pain levels (5°C or 16°C) without an experimenter present.RESULTS:Men and women showed lower pain sensitivity when they were processed by biological male personnel than by biological female personnel before the CPT. Women who interacted with a transgendered researcher likewise reported higher pain sensitivity than women processed by biological male or female researchers. The type of CPT apparatus, despite operating at equivalent temperatures, also influenced subjective pain reports.DISCUSSION: The findings show that even minimal interactions with laboratory personnel who differ in gender, and differences in laboratory materials impact the reliable measurement of pain.CONCLUSION: More standardized protocols for measuring pain across varying research and clinical settings should be developed.

A meta-analysis on pain sensitivity in self-injury

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 1597-1612 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Koenig ◽  
J. F. Thayer ◽  
M. Kaess
Keyword(s):  
Pain Intensity ◽  
Pain Sensitivity ◽  
Pain Threshold ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Hand Search ◽  
Self Injury

Individuals engaging in self-injurious behavior (SIB) frequently report absence of pain during acts of SIB. While altered pain sensitivity is discussed as a risk factor for the engagement in SIB, results have been mixed with considerable variance across reported effect sizes, in particular with respect to the effect of co-morbid psychopathology. The present meta-analysis aimed to summarize the current evidence on pain sensitivity in individuals engaging in SIB and to identify covariates of altered pain processing. Three databases were searched without restrictions. Additionally a hand search was performed and reference lists of included studies were checked for potential studies eligible for inclusion. Thirty-two studies were identified after screening 720 abstracts by two independent reviewers. Studies were included if they reported (i) an empirical investigation, in (ii) humans, including a sample of individuals engaging in (iii) SIB and a group of (iv) healthy controls, (v) receiving painful stimulation. Random-effects meta-analysis was performed on three pain-related outcomes (pain threshold, pain tolerance, pain intensity) and several population- and study-level covariates (i.e. age, sex, clinical etiology) were subjected to meta-regression. Meta-analysis revealed significant main effects associated with medium to large effect sizes for all included outcomes. Individuals engaging in SIB show greater pain threshold and tolerance and report less pain intensity compared to healthy controls. Clinical etiology and age are significant covariates of pain sensitivity in individuals engaging in SIB, such that pain threshold is further increased in borderline personality disorder compared to non-suicidal self-injury. Mechanisms underlying altered pain sensitivity are discussed.

scholarly journals Experimental Pain Responses in Children with Chronic Pain and in Healthy Children: How Do They Differ?

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennie CI Tsao ◽  
Subhadra Evans ◽  
Laura C Seidman ◽  
Lonnie K Zeltzer
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Chronic Pain ◽  
Experimental Pain ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Healthy Children ◽  
Cold Pain ◽  
Lower Pain ◽  
Pain Responses

BACKGROUND: Extant research comparing laboratory pain responses of children with chronic pain with healthy controls is mixed, with some studies indicating lower pain responsivity for controls and others showing no differences. Few studies have included different pain modalities or assessment protocols.OBJECTIVES: To compare pain responses among 26 children (18 girls) with chronic pain and matched controls (mean age 14.8 years), to laboratory tasks involving thermal heat, pressure and cold pain. Responses to cold pain were assessed using two different protocols: an initial trial of unspecified duration and a second trial of specified duration.METHODS: Four trials of pressure pain and of thermal heat pain stimuli, all of unspecified duration, were administered, as well as the two cold pain trials. Heart rate and blood pressure were assessed at baseline and after completion of the pain tasks.RESULTS: Pain tolerance and pain intensity did not differ between children with chronic pain and controls for the unspecified trials. For the specified cold pressor trial, 92% of children with chronic pain completed the entire trial compared with only 61.5% of controls. Children with chronic pain exhibited a trend toward higher baseline and postsession heart rate and reported more anxiety and depression symptoms compared with control children.CONCLUSIONS: Contextual factors related to the fixed trial may have exerted a greater influence on pain tolerance in children with chronic pain relative to controls. Children with chronic pain demonstrated a tendency toward increased arousal in anticipation of and following pain induction compared with controls.

scholarly journals Experimenter Effects on Pain Reporting in Women Vary across the Menstrual Cycle

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob M. Vigil ◽  
Jared DiDomenico ◽  
Chance Strenth ◽  
Patrick Coulombe ◽  
Eric Kruger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Menstrual Cycle ◽  
Person Perception ◽  
Experimental Pain ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Low Fertility ◽  
Hormonal Contraceptives ◽  
High Fertility ◽  
Pain Reporting ◽  
Pain Experiences

Background. Separate lines of research have shown that menstrual cycling and contextual factors such as the gender of research personnel influence experimental pain reporting.Objectives. This study examines how brief, procedural interactions with female and male experimenters can affect experimentally reported pain (cold pressor task, CPT) across the menstrual cycle.Methods. Based on the menstrual calendars 94 naturally cycling women and 38 women using hormonal contraceptives (Mage=19.83,  SD=3.09) were assigned to low and high fertility groups. This assignment was based on estimates of their probability of conception given their current cycle day. Experimenters (12 males, 7 females) engaged in minimal procedural interactions with participants before the CPT was performed in solitude.Results. Naturally cycling women in the high fertility group showed significantly higher pain tolerance (81 sec,d=.79) following interactions with a male but not a female experimenter. Differences were not found for women in the low fertility or contraceptive groups.Discussion. The findings illustrate that menstrual functioning moderates the effect that experimenter gender has on pain reporting in women.Conclusion. These findings have implications for standardizing pain measurement protocols and understanding how basic biopsychosocial mechanisms (e.g., person-perception systems) can modulate pain experiences.

scholarly journals Taboo gesticulations as a response to pain

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 397-406
Author(s):  
Maarten Jacobs ◽  
Ilja van Beest ◽  
Richard Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Pain Perception ◽  
Index Finger ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Middle Finger ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Cold Pressor Task ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Lower Pain ◽  
Finger Control ◽  
Ice Water

Abstract Background and aims Prior research indicates that swearing increases pain tolerance and decreases pain perception in a cold pressor task. In two experiments, we extend this research by testing whether taboo hand gesticulations have a similar effect. Methods Study 1 focused on males and females who, across two trials, submerged an extended middle finger (taboo) and an extended index finger (control) in ice water until discomfort necessitated removal. Study 2 focused exclusively on pain perception in males who, across three trials, submerged their hand, flat, with extended middle finger and with extended index finger, for 45 s each. Results In study 1 taboo gesticulation did not increase pain tolerance or reduce pain perception compared with the index finger control condition, as a main effect or as part of an interaction with condition order. While there was a gesture×gender interaction for pain tolerance, this was driven by an increased pain tolerance for the index finger gesture for women but not men. The results of study 2 again showed that taboo gesticulation did not lower pain perception, although it did increase positive affect compared with both non-taboo gesture conditions. Conclusions Taken together these results provide only limited evidence that taboo gesticulation alters the experience of pain. These largely null findings further our understanding of swearing as a response to pain, suggesting that the activation of taboo schemas is not sufficient for hypoalgesia to occur.

scholarly journals The Effects of Mindful Attention on Cold Pressor Pain in Children

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Petter ◽  
Christine T Chambers ◽  
Jill MacLaren Chorney
Keyword(s):  
Pain Intensity ◽  
Acute Pain ◽  
Coping Style ◽  
Guided Imagery ◽  
Experimental Pain ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Trait Mindfulness ◽  
Cold Pressor Task ◽  
Mindful Attention

BACKGROUND: Typical interventions for acute pain in children attempt to reduce pain by directing attention away from pain. Conversely, mindfulness involves devoting attention to one’s experience in an accepting and nonjudgmental way. However, the effect that instructing children to mindfully devote attention to acute pain has on pain outcomes is unknown.OBJECTIVES: To examine whether mindful attention can help children attend to pain without increasing pain intensity or decreasing pain tolerance; to compare the effects of mindful attention with a well-established intervention designed to take attention away from pain (guided imagery); and to test whether baseline coping style or trait mindfulness alter the effects of these interventions.METHODS: A total of 82 children (10 to 14 years of age) completed measures of coping style and trait mindfulness. Participants then received either mindful attention or guided imagery instructions designed to direct attention toward or away from pain, respectively, before participating in a cold pressor task.RESULTS: The mindful attention group reported more awareness of the physical sensations of pain and thoughts about those sensations. Overall, there were no between-group differences in measures of pain intensity or pain tolerance during the cold pressor task, and no evidence of an interaction between baseline characteristics of the child and experimental condition.CONCLUSIONS: Mindful attention was successful in helping children focus attention on experimental pain without increasing pain intensity or decreasing tolerance compared with a well-established intervention for acute pain reduction.

scholarly journals Swearing as a response to pain: A cross-cultural comparison of British and Japanese participants

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 267-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia Robertson ◽  
Sarita Jane Robinson ◽  
Richard Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Pain Perception ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Cultural Background ◽  
Control Word ◽  
Ethnic Background ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Pain Mechanisms ◽  
Perceived Pain ◽  
Lower Pain

AbstractBackground and aimsResearch suggests swearing can moderate pain perception. The present study assessed whether changes in pain perception due to swearing reflect a “scripting” effect by comparing swearing as a response to pain in native English and Japanese speakers. Cognitive psychology denotes a ‘script’ to be a sequence of learnt behaviours expected for given situations. Japanese participants were included as they rarely, if ever, swear as a response to pain and therefore do not possess an available script for swearing in the context of pain. It was hypothesised that Japanese participants would demonstrate less tolerance and more sensitivity to pain than English participants, and – due to a lack of an available script of swearing in response to pain – that Japanese participants would not experience swearword mediated hypoalgesia.MethodsFifty-six native English (mean age = 23 years) and 39 Japanese (mean age = 21) speakers completed a cold-pressor task whilst repeating either a swear on control word. A 2 (culture; Japanese, British) × 2 (word; swear; non-swear) design explored whether Japanese participants showed the same increase in pain tolerance and experienced similar levels of perceived pain when a swearing intervention was used as British participants. Pain tolerance was assessed by the number of seconds participants could endure of cold-pressor exposure and self-report pain measurements. Levels of perceived pain were assessed using a 120-mm horizontal visual analogue scale anchored by descriptors in the participant’s native language of “no pain” (left) and “terrible pain” (right). The participant was asked to mark a 10 mm vertical line to indicate overall pain intensity. The score was measured from the zero anchor to the participant’s mark.ResultsJapanese participants reported higher levels of pain (p< 0.005) and displayed lower pain tolerance than British participants (p<0.05). Pain tolerance increased in swearers regardless of cultural background (p < 0.001) and no interaction was found between word group and culture (p = 0.96), thereby suggesting that swearing had no differential effect related to the cultural group of the participant.ConclusionsThe results replicate previous findings that swearing increases pain tolerance and that individuals from an Asian ethnic background experience greater levels of perceived pain than those from a Caucasian ethnic background. However, these results do not support the idea of pain perception modification due to a “scripting” effect. This is evidenced as swearword mediated hypoalgesia occurs irrespective of participant cultural background. Rather, it is suggested that modulation of pain perception may occur through activation of descending inhibitory neural pain mechanisms.ImplicationsAs swearing can increase pain tolerance in both Japanese and British people, it may be suggested that swearword mediated hypoalgesia is a universal phenomenon that transcends socio-cultural learnt behaviours. Furthermore, swearing could be encouraged as an intervention to help people cope with acute painful stimuli.

scholarly journals An Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Age and Sex/Gender on Pain Sensitivity in Healthy Human Participants

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanan El-Tumi ◽  
Mark I. Johnson ◽  
Osama A. Tashani
Keyword(s):  
Pain Sensitivity ◽  
Pain Threshold ◽  
Pressure Pain Threshold ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Heat Pain ◽  
Detection Thresholds ◽  
Pressure Pain ◽  
Heat Pain Threshold ◽  
Cold Pressor Pain

Background: Ageing is associated with alterations of the structure and function of somatosensory tissue that can impact on pain perception. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between age and pain sensitivity responses to noxious thermal and mechanical stimuli in healthy adults. Methods: 56 unpaid volunteers (28 women) aged between 20 and 55 years were categorised according to age into one of seven possible groups. The following measurements were taken: thermal detection thresholds, heat pain threshold and tolerance using a TSA-II NeuroSensory Analyzer; pressure pain threshold using a handheld electronic pressure algometer; and cold pressor pain threshold, tolerance, intensity and unpleasantness. Results: There was a positive correlation between heat pain tolerance and age (r = 0.228, P = 0.046), but no statistically significant differences between age groups for cold or warm detection thresholds, or heat pain threshold or tolerance. Forward regression found increasing age to be a predictor of increased pressure pain threshold (B = 0.378, P = 0.002), and sex/gender to be a predictor of cold pressor pain tolerance, with women having lower tolerance than men (B = -0.332, P = 0.006). Conclusion: The findings of this experimental study provide further evidence that pressure pain threshold increases with age and that women have lower thresholds and tolerances to innocuous and noxious thermal stimuli. Significance: The findings demonstrate that variations in pain sensitivity response to experimental stimuli in adults vary according to stimulus modality, age and sex and gender.

scholarly journals Hypertensive Hypoalgesia in a Complex Chronic Disease Population

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (17) ◽  
pp. 3816
Author(s):  
Meaghan Ferguson ◽  
Maxwell Slepian ◽  
Christopher France ◽  
Anton Svendrovski ◽  
Joel Katz
Keyword(s):  
Severe Pain ◽  
Pain Sensitivity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Continuing Care ◽  
Total N ◽  
Lower Pain ◽  
Complex Chronic Disease ◽  
The Relationship

Hypertension-related hypoalgesia, defined as lower pain sensitivity in individuals with high blood pressure, has yet to be examined in a large-scale study of complex care residents. Here, the Continuing Care Reporting System database, which contains health information on residents of Canadian complex chronic care facilities, was used for assessment. Hypertension was reported among 77,323 residents (55.5%, total N = 139,920). Propensity score matching, with a 1:1 ratio, was used to identify a control record without hypertension for each case. Multinomial logistic regression was used to quantify the effects of hypertension and sex on four-level ordinal pain variables, controlling for potential confounders. The matched dataset included n = 40,799 cases with hypertension and n = 40,799 without hypertension, with 57% female. Residents with hypertension had significantly lower odds of reporting pain (yes/no) (OR = 0.85, 95% CI 0.81–0.90, p < 0.001), including on measures of severe pain (OR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.63–0.76, p < 0.001). A significant interaction between hypertension and sex (OR = 1.17, 95% CI 1.03–1.32, p = 0.014) indicated that a significantly greater proportion of females without hypertension reported severe pain (8.71%). The results confirm the relationship between hypertension and reduced pain sensitivity on a population level.

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