Variability in Pain Traits Among Young Individuals with High and Low Pain Sensitivity

Pain is a complex experience involving sensory, emotional, and cognitive components, with significant variability in sensitivity across individuals. Pain sensitivity is closely linked to pain-related traits, which influence how pain is perceived. However, it remains unclear whether differences in these traits exist between individuals with high or low pain sensitivity, which could have implications for predicting pain disorders.

This study aimed to examine the variability of pain-related traits in individuals with high or low pain sensitivity, using both self-report measures and quantitative sensory tests in a sample of 92 healthy young adults. Based on scores from the Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire (PSQ) and Somatosensory Sensitivity Scales (SeSS), participants were classified into high and low pain sensitivity groups using Gaussian Mixture Modeling. Subsequently, a range of pain-related measures-including pressure pain threshold (PPT), pain tolerance threshold (PTT), mechanical detection threshold (MDT), mechanical pain threshold (MPT), pain catastrophizing (PCS), and pain vigilance (PVAQ)-were used to examine interrelationships among traits across the two sensitivity groups.

Our findings show that self-reported pain sensitivity mediated the relationship between pain threshold and pain catastrophizing. Notably, we identified distinct patterns in the correlations of pain-related traits between high and low sensitivity groups. In the high sensitivity group, pain-related cognitive traits were strongly correlated, while in the low sensitivity group, sensory traits were more prominent.

These findings provide valuable insights into developing more effective pain coping strategies by considering differentiated sensitivity, particularly for individuals with chronic pain.