Naslov
Is experimentally induced pain associated with socioeconomic status? Do poor people hurt more?

Autori
Miljković, Ana ; Stipčić, Ana ; Braš, Marijana ; Đorđević, Veljko ; Brajković, Lovorka ; Hayward, Caroline ; Pavić, Arsen ; Kolčić, Ivana ; Polašek, Ozren

Izvornik
Medical science monitor (1234-1010) 20 (2014); 1232-1238

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
Croatia ; pain ; population ; social class

Sažetak
The association of pain and socioeconomic status is widely reported, yet much less clearly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of experimentally induced pain threshold and tolerance with socioeconomic status. The study sample consisted of 319 adult subjects from the population of the island of Vis, Croatia, which was previously shown to have a high level of social homogeneity. A manual dolorimeter was used to measure mechanical pressure pain threshold (least stimulus intensity) and pain tolerance (maximum tolerance stimulus intensity) on both hands. Pain tolerance interval was defined as the difference between pain tolerance and threshold. Years of schooling and material status were used as socioeconomic estimates. Both of the socioeconomic estimates were significantly correlated with pain threshold, tolerance, and tolerance interval (P<0.001). The mixed modeling analysis, controlled for the effects of age, gender, and 4 psychological variables, indicated that education was not a significant predictor in any of the 3 models. However, lower material status was significantly associated with lower pain tolerance (P=0.038) and narrower pain tolerance interval (P=0.032), but not with pain threshold (P=0.506). The overall percentages of explained variance were lower in the tolerance interval model (20.2%) than in pain tolerance (23.1%) and threshold (33.1%), suggesting the increasing share of other confounding variables in pain tolerance and even more so in tolerance interval model. These results suggest a significant association between experimentally induced pain tolerance and tolerance interval with material status, suggesting that poor people indeed do hurt more.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Temeljne medicinske znanosti, Javno zdravstvo i zdravstvena zaštita, Sociologija

POVEZANOST RADA