Abstract
Sensitivity to suprathreshold cold pain stimuli constitutes an important part of comprehensive
pain sensitivity testing and can be assessed by the cold pressor test or by using
a contact thermode-based testing device. One major difference between the 2 methods
is the size of the surface area stimulated, which is thought to affect both recruitment
of endogenous pain control mechanisms and vasomotor reactions. It is therefore not
clear if the 2 methods can be used interchangeably for the assessment of cold pain.
Here we applied 60-second-long stimuli at ∼3°C to the hands of 47 subjects by both
methods. Pain intensity ratings (on a scale from 0 to 10) were significantly higher
in the cold pressor test than in the thermode cold test (6.3 ± 1.8 vs 3.9 ± 2), associated
with a higher rate of dropouts within the 60 seconds (64 vs 11%). Nonetheless, pain
intensity ratings obtained with both methods were highly correlated (r = .70). However,
the thermode cold test shared a larger amount of variance with 1 or more of the other
pain intensity rating tests (phasic and tonic heat, pinprick) than the cold pressor
test (53% vs 30%) while the cold pressor test contained a larger proportion of unique
variance (39 vs 26%).
Perspective
This article compares 2 methods of cold pain assessment in humans and analyzes their
relationship to heat and pinprick pain. It could help researchers select the appropriate
cold pain test for their study. It may also promote our understanding of commonalities
and differences between different pain modalities.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 25, 2010
Accepted:
October 30,
2009
Received in revised form:
October 22,
2009
Received:
July 20,
2009
Footnotes
Supported by the Volkswagen Stiftung (Az.: I/80 708) and the BMBF (01GW0520).
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
