Gender differences in pain modulation by a sweet stimulus in adults: A randomized study

This study aimed to examine whether or not there are gender differences in sweet stimulus‐induced analgesia for cold pain in adults. In a randomized cross‐over design, twenty men and 20 women held either a 24% sucrose solution or distilled water in their mouth before and while they immersed their ha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nursing & health sciences 2011-03, Vol.13 (1), p.34-40
Main Authors: Kakeda, Takahiro, Ishikawa, Toshizo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Administration, Oral
Adult
Analgesia
Analgesics
Clinical outcomes
Clinical trials
cold-pressor test
Cross-Over Studies
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Gender differences
Hand
Healthy Volunteers
Humans
Hypothermia, Induced - adverse effects
Hypothermia, Induced - methods
Male
Mouth
Nursing
Pain
Pain - etiology
Pain - physiopathology
Pain Management
Pain perception
Pain Threshold - physiology
Reference Values
Sex
Sex differences
Sex Factors
Stimulus
Sucrose
Sucrose - pharmacology
sweet analgesia
Sweet taste
Treatment Outcome
Water
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Summary:This study aimed to examine whether or not there are gender differences in sweet stimulus‐induced analgesia for cold pain in adults. In a randomized cross‐over design, twenty men and 20 women held either a 24% sucrose solution or distilled water in their mouth before and while they immersed their hand in cold water and their pain response was examined. Unlike the women, when the men held the sucrose solution in their mouth, the latency of the onset of pain significantly increased, compared with the distilled water. Meanwhile, the level of pain tolerance was not significantly different for both sexes. The findings reveal that the analgesic effect of a sweet stimulus on the pain threshold is influenced by gender differences in human adults, indicating that sweet stimulus‐induced analgesia has a brief analgesic effect, particularly for men. Although more research is warranted, the sweet stimulus could be put to practical application as an adjunct to acute pain management for men.
ISSN:1441-0745
1442-2018
DOI:10.1111/j.1442-2018.2010.00573.x