title: Ecological aspects of pain in sensory modulation disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sensory Modulation Disorder (SMD) interferes with the daily life participation of otherwise healthy individuals and is characterized by over-, under- or seeking responsiveness to naturally occurring sensory stimuli. Previous laboratory findings indicate pain hyper-sensitivity in SMD individuals suggesting CNS alteration in pain processing and modulation. However, laboratory studies lack ecological validity, and warrant clinical completion in order to elicit a sound understanding of the phenomenon studied. Thus, this study explored the association between sensory modulation and pain in a daily life context in a general population sample.
  
  
  METHODS
  Daily life context of pain and sensations were measured in 250 adults (aged 23-40 years; 49.6% males) using 4 self-report questionnaires: Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire (PSQ) and Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) to evaluate the sensory and cognitive aspects of pain; the Sensory Responsiveness Questionnaire (SRQ) to appraise SMD; and the Short Form - 36 Health Survey, version 2 (SF36) to assess health related Quality of Life (QoL).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty two individuals (12.8%) were found with over-responsiveness type of SMD, forming the SOR-SMD group. While no group differences (SOR-SMD vs. Non-SMD) were found, low-to-moderate total sample correlations were demonstrated between the SRQ-Aversive sub-scale and i) PSQ total (r=0.31, p<0.01) and sub-scales scores (r=0.27-0.28, p<0.01), as well as ii) PCS total and the sub-scales of Rumination and Helplessness scores (r=0.15, p<0.05). PSQ total and sub-scale scores were more highly correlated with SRQ-Aversive in the SOR-SMD group (r=0.57-0.68, p=0.03-<0.01) compared to Non-SMD group. The Physical Health - Total score (but not the Mental Health - Total) of the SF36 was lower for the SOR-SMD group (p=0.03), mainly due to the difference in the Body pain sub-scale (p=0.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results suggest that SOR-SMD is strongly associated with the sensory aspect of pain but weakly associated with the cognitive aspect. This indicates that SMD co-occurs with daily pain sensitivity, thus reducing QoL, but less with the cognitive-catastrophizing manifestation of pain perception.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health Professions, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bar-Shalita
authors.affiliation: BioStats Statistical Consulting Ltd, Modiin, Israel.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Deutsch
authors.affiliation: The Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology, Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Honigman
authors.affiliation: Physical Therapy Department, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel. Electronic address: ifogel@univ.haifa.ac.il.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Weissman-Fogel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D058443:Catastrophization / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D058748:Pain Perception; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Pain catastrophizing; Pain sensitivity; Quality of life (QoL); Sensory modulation disorder (SMD); Sensory over-responsivity (SOR)