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Childhood Adversity and Pain Facilitation
Dokyoung S You1, Mary W Meagher
1From the Department of Psychology (You, Meagher), Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
Psychosomatic Medicine
|September 14, 2018
Summary
Childhood adversity is linked to increased pain sensitivity, particularly in the area of secondary allodynia. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms largely explain this heightened pain facilitation in adults with a history of adversity.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Pain Research
Background:
- Childhood adversity is a significant risk factor for developing chronic pain conditions.
- Central pain facilitation mechanisms are implicated in generalized pain sensitivity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between childhood adversity and hypersensitivity using measures of central pain facilitation.
- To determine if adult posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms mediate the relationship between childhood adversity and pain facilitation.
Main Methods:
- Participants with high and low childhood adversity underwent capsaicin-induced secondary allodynia and temporal summation of second pain (TSSP) testing.
- Testing sessions were conducted a week apart with counterbalanced order to control for order effects.
Main Results:
- Individuals with high childhood adversity exhibited larger areas of secondary allodynia compared to the low adversity group.
- Greater PTSD symptoms in the high adversity group largely explained the observed difference in secondary allodynia.
- No significant overall difference in TSSP slopes was found, but an order-by-group interaction suggested potential effects of prior testing.
Conclusions:
- Childhood adversity is associated with increased secondary allodynia, mediated by PTSD symptoms, suggesting a link to generalized pain.
- Adversity-related pain facilitation was observed in TSSP when testing occurred first, indicating sensitivity to testing order.
- The study did not find a consistent pattern of hypersensitivity across both pain facilitation measures.
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