Interaction Between Physical Pain and Negative Affect in Predicting Levels of Salivary Inflammation in Young Adults
Open Access
- Author:
- Stone, Alexandra
- Area of Honors:
- Biobehavioral Health
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Jennifer Elise Graham-Engeland, Thesis Supervisor
Helen Marie Kamens, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Negative Affect
Perceived Pain
Inflammation
IL-6
CRP
Salivary Inflammatory Markers - Abstract:
- The relationship between inflammation and self-reported pain symptomology has been examined in past research, which has established that a positive relationship exists between these variables. Negative affect may moderate such a relationship because it may act as a psychological stressor similarly to pain; however, the degree to which negative affect may moderate this association is unclear. The primary goals of the present research were to examine associations between salivary inflammatory markers of C-reactive protein (CRP) and Interleukin 6 (IL-6) and both acute pain intensity as well as perceived interference from pain, and whether negative affect significantly moderated these associations. Data from a larger study were used to examine 137 young adults with and without chronic pain via a 14-day daily diary protocol that included a morning and evening survey of affect and current pain intensity. Analyses controlled for gender, age, and body mass index (BMI). Results indicated that lower levels of acute pain intensity were associated with significantly elevated levels of salivary CRP (p<.05) but were not significantly associated with IL-6. Negative affect moderated the association between pain interference and IL-6, such that pain interference was significantly associated with elevated levels of IL-6 among those with higher negative affect (p<.05). Conversely, no significant moderation by negative affect on associations between acute pain intensity and either of the salivary markers of inflammation was observed. These findings suggest that measures of subjective pain and greater negative affect may sometimes interact such that the combination of high reported interference from pain and high negative affect may potentially signal risk of having elevated salivary inflammatory markers. Such findings may have important implications among young adults as an early indication of disease risk. The potential use of affect and perceptions of pain interference as screening tools will be discussed.