Pizarro-Campagna Elizabeth, Caruana Amy, Charlesworth Seaton, Ferguson Rose, Bayliss Olivia, Henry Julie D, Pilkington Pamela
School of Psychology, Australian Catholic University, Fitzroy, Australia (Pizarro-Campagna, Caruana, Ferguson, Bayliss, Pilkington); Eastern Health, Box Hill, Australia (Charlesworth); School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia (Henry).
Biopsychosoc Sci Med. 2025 Jun 1;87(5):290-304. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000001393. Epub 2025 Apr 21.
Individuals with chronic pain (CP) often report difficulties with their social relationships. Empathic capacity is crucial for the development and maintenance of social relationships and deficits contribute to social difficulties. This review explored whether empathic capacity is disrupted in people with CP.
A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. PsycINFO, CINAHL Complete, MEDLINE Complete, and Scopus were searched on May 14, 2023, for studies published in English in a peer-reviewed journal that assessed differences in cognitive or affective empathy in adults with CP and healthy controls (HC). The Appraisal Tool for Cross-Sectional Studies was used to evaluate study quality.
Eighteen studies were eligible ( Npooled = 1239) and two correlated effects robust variance estimation meta-analyses were conducted. Cognitive empathy (CE) was found to be poorer in people with CP relative to HC, but no significant difference was found between groups for affective empathy (AE). Subanalyses were conducted to explore the specific subconstructs of AE (affect sharing, empathic concern) and CE (affect attribution, mental state attribution), and how these are measured (self-report, performance).
Relative to HCs, people with CP exhibit moderate CE difficulties. Significant AE difficulties were not evident in the CP group, though since power was limited, and effect sizes of moderate to large magnitude were identified for some subcomponents of AE, caution is warranted interpreting these null findings. Overall, findings meaningfully extend current understanding of potential barriers to interpersonal function in people with CP and have implications for treatment and recovery approaches. Further research is needed to consider the potential moderators.
慢性疼痛（CP）患者常报告其社会关系存在困难。共情能力对于社会关系的发展和维持至关重要，而能力缺陷会导致社交困难。本综述探讨了CP患者的共情能力是否受到破坏。
按照PRISMA指南进行系统综述和荟萃分析。于2023年5月14日在PsycINFO、CINAHL Complete、MEDLINE Complete和Scopus数据库中检索在同行评审期刊上发表的英文研究，这些研究评估了CP成年患者与健康对照（HC）在认知或情感共情方面的差异。采用横断面研究评估工具来评估研究质量。
18项研究符合条件（合并样本量N = 1239），并进行了两项相关效应稳健方差估计荟萃分析。发现CP患者的认知共情（CE）相对于HC较差，但两组在情感共情（AE）方面未发现显著差异。进行了亚分析以探讨AE的具体子结构（情感分享、共情关注）和CE的具体子结构（情感归因、心理状态归因），以及它们是如何测量的（自我报告、表现）。
相对于HC，CP患者表现出中度的CE困难。CP组中未明显出现显著的AE困难，不过由于检验效能有限，且已确定AE的一些子成分的效应大小为中到大型，因此在解释这些阴性结果时需谨慎。总体而言，研究结果有意义地扩展了当前对CP患者人际功能潜在障碍的理解，并对治疗和康复方法具有启示意义。需要进一步研究以考虑潜在的调节因素。
