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Psychosomatic Medicine 34:548-556 (1972)
© 1972 American Psychosomatic Society

Pain Tolerance: Differences According to Age, Sex and Race

KENNETH M. WOODROW MD1, GARY D. FRIEDMAN MD2, A. B. SIEGELAUB MS2, and MORRIS F. COLLEN MD2

1 Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford
2 Department of Medical Methods Research, The Permanente Medical Group, Oakland, Calif.

Address for reprint requests: Kenneth M. Woodrow, MD, St. Elizabeth Hospital, WAW Bldg, Clinical Psychopharmacology Laboratory, Washington, DC 20032.

The nature and extent of group differences in pain tolerance according to age, sex and race were examined. The method of pain tolerance determination was mechanical pressure on the Achilles tendon, performed on 41, 119 subjects as part of the Kaiser-Permanente Automated Multiphasic Screening examination. The results showed that, on the average, a) pain tolerance decreases with age; b) men tolerate more pain than women; and c) Whites tolerate more pain than Orientals, while Blacks occupy an intermediate position. When the results of this study are compared with earlier work, it appears that, with increasing age, tolerance to cutaneous pain increases and tolerance to deep pain decreases.

Submitted on October 14, 1971
Revised on February 2, 1972




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