title: Sexual and physical abuse history in subjects with temporomandibular disorders: relationship to clinical variables, pain sensitivity, and psychologic factors.
abstract: Recent evidence suggests that a past history of physical and/or sexual abuse is more frequently reported among chronic pain populations; however, the prevalence of reported abuse has not been examined in patients with chronic orofacial pain caused by temporomandibular disorders (TMD). This study compares reported physical/sexual abuse among female TMD subjects recruited from the general population with that of age-matched female control subjects. The association of reported abuse with clinical pain, experimental pain responses, and psychologic variables was examined in the TMD group. Results indicated that a slightly but not statistically greater percentage of TMD subjects (44.8%) reported a history of sexual or physical abuse compared to control subjects (33.3%). Reported abuse among TMD subjects was not related to clinical pain or psychologic variables. Regarding experimental pain responses, TMD subjects reporting a history of abuse exhibited longer ischemic pain tolerances compared to those not reporting abuse; however, the groups did not differ on other experimental pain measures. Results indicate that the reported prevalence of physical/sexual abuse is similar among TMD subjects compared to other chronic pain populations; however, the relationship of abuse to clinical and psychosocial variables remains unclear.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham 35294-1170, USA.
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Fillingim
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Maixner
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sigurdsson
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kincaid
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D018585:Battered Women; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005157:Facial Pain / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017288:Pain Threshold; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013705:Temporomandibular Joint Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D014754:Violence