Logan Henrietta L, Gedney Jeffrey J
Division of Public Health Services and Research, College of Dentistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
J Pain. 2004 Sep;5(7):406-12. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2004.06.007.
The purpose of this study was to examine sex differences in the stability of experimental pain responding across time. Stability was assessed by using 2 forehead cold pressor applications separated by 9 months. Twenty-eight men and 20 women completed both Session 1 and Session 2. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed a main effect for Session on maximum pain level. Women reported significantly more pain at Session 2, whereas men showed no difference between sessions. There were no differences on pain report between men and women at Session 1. A significant Session by Sex interaction was associated with perceived chronic stress and trait anxiety levels. At Session 2 but not Session 1, women endorsed a significantly greater expectation than men to experience unpleasant aftereffects from the cold pressor task. Additional analysis showed that chronic stress and trait anxiety were significantly associated with sex-specific pain responding. We propose that the influence of a prior painful incident on an identical repeated painful experience differs between men and women. We speculate that this influence is related to sex differences in psychological mechanisms used to interpret painful stimuli within the context of remembered experiences. To our knowledge, this is the first report of sex differences in the long-term stability of an experimental laboratory pain stimulus, controlling for follicular phase of the female menstrual cycle.
This study examines sex differences in the stability of experimental pain responding across a 9-month period. We speculate that psychological mechanisms influence one's interpretation of a prior painful incident and that this interpretation facilitates increased pain reporting in response to an identical repeated exposure, as was observed for women.
本研究的目的是检验实验性疼痛反应随时间的稳定性方面的性别差异。通过相隔9个月进行两次前额冷加压测试来评估稳定性。28名男性和20名女性完成了第1阶段和第2阶段的测试。重复测量方差分析显示，测试阶段对最大疼痛水平有主效应。女性在第2阶段报告的疼痛明显更多，而男性在两个阶段之间没有差异。在第1阶段，男性和女性在疼痛报告方面没有差异。测试阶段与性别的显著交互作用与感知到的慢性应激和特质焦虑水平相关。在第2阶段而非第1阶段，女性比男性更强烈地认可预期会经历冷加压任务带来的不愉快后效。进一步分析表明，慢性应激和特质焦虑与特定性别的疼痛反应显著相关。我们提出，既往疼痛事件对相同重复疼痛经历的影响在男性和女性之间存在差异。我们推测，这种影响与在记忆经历背景下用于解释疼痛刺激的心理机制中的性别差异有关。据我们所知，这是在控制女性月经周期卵泡期的情况下，关于实验性实验室疼痛刺激长期稳定性方面性别差异的首次报告。
本研究考察了9个月期间实验性疼痛反应稳定性方面的性别差异。我们推测心理机制会影响个体对既往疼痛事件的解读，并且这种解读会促使在相同重复暴露时疼痛报告增加，正如在女性中观察到的那样。
