No evidence for a link between mental health symptoms and pain thresholds

Previous studies have suggested associations between pain perception and psychological factors such as mood, distress, fatigue, and quality of life. However, these factors and their relationship to pain sensitivity have typically been investigated in isolation and with insufficient sample sizes. To address these limitations, we examine the interplay between distinct psychological factors and thermal pain sensitivity in a large adult sample.

We implemented a multivariate latent variable modeling approach in a sizable sample of adult participants (n = 257), to examine the interplay between distinct psychological factors and thermal pain sensitivity. Using exploratory factor analysis of 10 mental health questionnaires, we identified three psychological factors related to distress, fatigue and bodily symptoms. Additionally, we established a measure of laboratory pain sensitivity by applying principal component analysis to three thermal pain thresholds (cold, heat, and combined cold and heat).

Regression analyses revealed no significant relationships between psychological factors and laboratory measures of thermal pain across individuals ranging from asymptomatic to those with subclinical and clinical mental health manifestations.

Our findings provide no evidence supporting an association between psychological factors, either individually or collectively, and thermal pain sensitivity.