Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
371168 Research in Developmental Disabilities 2015 11 Pages PDF
Abstract

BackgroundSensory Modulation Disorder (SMD) interferes with the daily life participation of otherwise healthy individuals and is characterized by over-, under- or seeking responsiveness to naturally occurring sensory stimuli. Previous laboratory findings indicate pain hyper-sensitivity in SMD individuals suggesting CNS alteration in pain processing and modulation. However, laboratory studies lack ecological validity, and warrant clinical completion in order to elicit a sound understanding of the phenomenon studied. Thus, this study explored the association between sensory modulation and pain in a daily life context in a general population sample.MethodsDaily life context of pain and sensations were measured in 250 adults (aged 23–40 years; 49.6% males) using 4 self-report questionnaires: Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire (PSQ) and Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) to evaluate the sensory and cognitive aspects of pain; the Sensory Responsiveness Questionnaire (SRQ) to appraise SMD; and the Short Form – 36 Health Survey, version 2 (SF36) to assess health related Quality of Life (QoL).ResultsThirty two individuals (12.8%) were found with over-responsiveness type of SMD, forming the SOR-SMD group. While no group differences (SOR-SMD vs. Non-SMD) were found, low-to-moderate total sample correlations were demonstrated between the SRQ-Aversive sub-scale and i) PSQ total (r = 0.31, p < 0.01) and sub-scales scores (r = 0.27–0.28, p < 0.01), as well as ii) PCS total and the sub-scales of Rumination and Helplessness scores (r = 0.15, p < 0.05). PSQ total and sub-scale scores were more highly correlated with SRQ-Aversive in the SOR-SMD group (r = 0.57–0.68, p = 0.03–<0.01) compared to Non-SMD group. The Physical Health – Total score (but not the Mental Health – Total) of the SF36 was lower for the SOR-SMD group (p = 0.03), mainly due to the difference in the Body pain sub-scale (p = 0.04).ConclusionsResults suggest that SOR-SMD is strongly associated with the sensory aspect of pain but weakly associated with the cognitive aspect. This indicates that SMD co-occurs with daily pain sensitivity, thus reducing QoL, but less with the cognitive-catastrophizing manifestation of pain perception.

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