Heritability of pain catastrophizing and associations with experimental pain outcomes: a twin study
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This study used a twin paradigm to examine genetic and environmental contributions to pain catastrophizing and the observed association between pain catastrophizing and cold-pressor task (CPT) outcomes. Male and female monozygotic (n = 206) and dizygotic twins (n = 194) from the University of Washington Twin Registry completed a measure of pain catastrophizing and performed a CPT challenge. As expected, pain catastrophizing emerged as a significant predictor of several CPT outcomes, including cold-pressor Immersion Tolerance, Pain Tolerance, and Delayed Pain Rating. The heritability estimate for pain catastrophizing was found to be 37% with the remaining 63% of variance attributable to unique environmental influence. Additionally, the observed associations between pain catastrophizing and CPT outcomes were not found attributable to shared genetics or environmental exposure, which suggests a direct relationship between catastrophizing and experimental pain outcomes. This study is the first to examine the heritability of pain catastrophizing and potential processes by which pain catastrophizing is related to experimental pain response.
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- [11]Sullivan MJL Theoretical perspectives on the relation between catastrophizing and pain The Clinical journal of pain 2001 17 1 52 64 11289089
- [51]Sullivan MJ Theoretical perspectives on the relation between catastrophizing and pain Clin J Pain 2001 17 1 52 64 11289089
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- Authors
- Trost, Z., Strachan, E., Sullivan, M., Vervoort, T., Avery, A. R., & Afari, N.
- Affiliations
- University of North Texas (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- McGill University (CA)
- Ghent University (BE)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Corresponding author
- Afari, Niloofar
- Venue
- Pain
- Published
- 2015-03
- Volume
- 156
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 514-520
- ISSN
- 0304-3959 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4329018
- OpenAlex
- W2080320463
- Cited by
- 54
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 5
- FWCI
- 5.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Pain (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Washington
- National Institutes of Health
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (RC2HL103416)
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (U01DK082325, U01DK082316)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Pain Management and Placebo Effect
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Pediatric Pain Management Techniques
- Keywords
- pain catastrophizing, heritability, genetic factors, environmental influences, monozygotic twins, dizygotic twins, cold pressor task, pain tolerance, experimental pain, twin studies
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Cold Temperature, Female, Humans, Male, Pain, Pain Measurement, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sex Factors, Twins, Zygote, Pain Threshold, Young Adult, Catastrophization
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