COLD PRESSOR PAIN - COMPARING RESPONSES OF JUVENILE ARTHRITIS PATIENTS AND THEIR PARENTS

The objective of this study was to compare the reactions to experiment al cold pressor pain of Juvenile Arthritis (JA) patients, healthy chil dren, and their parents. Methods. Wt compared pain threshold, discomfo rt, intensity, and tolerance to experimental cold Dresser pain in 15 J A patients (age 9-15) and one of their parents and a control group of 25 healthy children (age 9-12) and one of their parents. Results: JA-p atients exhibited significantly lower mean pain tolerance than healthy child;en. Pain tolerance correlated significantly with disease durati on. Parents of JA-patients showed significantly greater mean pain inte nsity than parents of healthy children, and had higher estimates of th eir child's ability to endure pain than parents of healthy children, C orrelations were found between een pain scores of children and their p arents for both pain intensity and tolerance. The pain coping category of Catastrophizing was associated with several of the experimental pa in response measures.Conclusion. The results suggest that JA patients may differ from healthy children with regard to their responses to exp erimental pain, and that pain responses of both JA patients and health y children could be related to the pain response of their parents.