Firoozi Manijeh, Rostami Reza
Dept. of Psychology, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran.
Iran J Cancer Prev. 2012 Spring;5(2):74-80.
There are many physiological and psychological factors, which affect sensitivity to pain in children afflicted with ALL. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the relation between salivary cortisol and sensitivity to pain, and also study the role of age and gender.
Seventy eight children (33 girls and 45 boys, aged 3 to 12 years) with ALL participated in this study. Morning salivary cortisol was measured and Behavior Scales of Sensitivity to Pain for Children (BSSPC) and Pre-Linguistic Behavioral Pain Reactivity Scale (PL-BPRS) were applied.
The results showed a high significant correlation between cortisol levels and pain sensitivity. Cortisol suppression was observed in some participants. The roles of gender and age in relation between cortisol levels and sensitivity to pain were assessed by using moderated regression. Gender and age moderated the relation between sensitivity to pain and cortisol level.
Conditional fear can explain for high sensitivity to pain amongst the participants; chemotherapy drugs might play a role in cortisol suppression and parenthood style perhaps determines sex difference in reaction to pain.
有许多生理和心理因素会影响患急性淋巴细胞白血病（ALL）儿童的疼痛敏感性。本研究的主要目的是评估唾液皮质醇与疼痛敏感性之间的关系，并研究年龄和性别的作用。
78名患ALL的儿童（33名女孩和45名男孩，年龄3至12岁）参与了本研究。测量了晨间唾液皮质醇水平，并应用了儿童疼痛敏感性行为量表（BSSPC）和语言前行为疼痛反应量表（PL-BPRS）。
结果显示皮质醇水平与疼痛敏感性之间存在高度显著相关性。在一些参与者中观察到了皮质醇抑制现象。通过使用调节回归分析评估了性别和年龄在皮质醇水平与疼痛敏感性关系中的作用。性别和年龄调节了疼痛敏感性与皮质醇水平之间的关系。
条件性恐惧可以解释参与者中对疼痛的高敏感性；化疗药物可能在皮质醇抑制中起作用，而父母教养方式可能决定了对疼痛反应的性别差异。
