Abstract:

Background and objective:

Pain is a universal, personal and subjective experience. Many factors are involved in the interpretation of this unpleasant sensation, including past experience, ethnicity and culture. Understanding these factors plays an important role in a comprehensive and multidimensional approach to the assessment and management of acute and chronic pain. The aim of this study is to determine experimental pain perception differences between Arab and western European healthy male subjects.

Method:

 Fifty-six healthy Arab and western European male volunteers from Queen Margaret University College recruited to examine pain threshold using the method of limits in Quantitative Sensory Test (TSA 2001) and a Dolorimeter. Thermal and pressure pain threshold was measured on the thenar eminence of the non-dominant hand. Both ethnic groups were analysed separately.

Result:

Total fifty-six subjects (28 Arab and 28 European) subjects completed the study. In depended t-test result indicates that no statistically significant difference was found between Arabs and Europeans hot [t (54) =1.150; p>0.05], cold [t (54) =0.568; p>0.05], and pressure [t (54) =-0.279; p>0.05] pain threshold.

Conclusion:

No significant statistical difference in pain thresholds between Arab and Western European healthy male subjects was evident. More research is warranted in this field to access the perceptual and psychological aspects associated with pain.

Introduction

Pain is a subjective experience (French, 1989) and the protective function of life (Turk and Melzack, 1992). A number of factors may influence pain perception, including psychological, sociological and biological. Pain is the most common symptom in people who seek medical help, and is an important growing problem in the world (Strong, 2002).

Tags: Arab, Comparison, European, Healthy, Male, PAIN., Pressure, Subjects, Thermal, Thresholds, Western