No Evidence for a Link Between Mental Health Symptoms and Thermal Pain Thresholds

Previous studies have suggested an association between pain perception and psychological factors such as mood, distress, fatigue, and quality of life. Yet, these factors and their relationship to pain sensitivity have typically been investigated in isolation from one another, and with insufficiently powered sample sizes. To overcome these limitations, we implemented a multivariate latent variable modeling approach in a sizable sample of adult participants (n = 257), enabling us to examine the interplay between unique psychological factors and thermal pain sensitivity. Through exploratory factor analysis of 10 mental health questionnaires, we identified three mental health factors related to distress, fatigue and bodily symptoms. Additionally, we established a measure of laboratory pain sensitivity using principal component analyses of three thermal pain thresholds (i.e., cold, heat and simultaneously cold and heat). Regression models revealed no relationships between psychological factors and laboratory-based measures of thermal pain in individuals whose mental health ranged from no discernible symptoms to those with subclinical and clinical manifestations. Our findings provided no evidence supporting an association between psychological factors, either individually or as a collective construct, and thermal pain sensitivity.