Influence of estrogen levels on thermal perception, pain thresholds and pain tolerance : Studies on women undergoing in vitro fertilization

• We examined the relationship between estrogen and pain in women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). Quantitative sensory tests (QST) were performed twice during the IVF-regimen: once during hormonal down-regulation and once during hormonal upregulation. A group of healthy men and a group of women using monophasic contraceptives were also examined, to control for session-to-session effects. Among the women undergoing IVF, serum 17β-estradiol levels differed strongly between treatments as expected, and increased from 65.7 (SD = 26) pmol/l during the downregulation phase, to 5188 (SD = 2524) pmol/l during the up-regulation phase. Significant outcomes in the QST were only seen for temperature perception thresholds (1.7°C vs. 2.2°C; P = 0.003) and cold pain threshold (11.5°C vs. 14.5°C; P = 0.04). A similar change in cold pain threshold was also seen in the two control groups, however, and statistical analysis suggested that this change was due to a session-to-session effect rather than being the result of hormonal modulation. Heat pain thresholds, heat tolerance, pressure pain thresholds, and the cold pressor test showed no significant differences between sessions. These data demonstrate that pain perception and pain thresholds in healthy women show little, if any, changes even with major variations in serum estradiol levels.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Klinisk laboratoriemedicin (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Clinical Laboratory Medicine (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper -- Cell- och molekylärbiologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Basic Medicine -- Cell and Molecular Biology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Estrogen

pain

hormonal levels

quantitative sensory testing

MEDICINE

MEDICIN

Biomedical Sciences

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