Effects of food intake regulating hormones on pain perception
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Assessing the effects of food intake regulating endocrine hormones on pain perception: an exploratory study
IRAS ID
177539
Contact name
Koddus Ali
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Birmingham City University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 13 days
Research summary
Obesity is a global burden and a worldwide public health challenge due to its associated risk factors and high prevalence. The prevalence of obesity continues to increase at alarming rates. Projections to the year 2030 estimate a 33% increase in obesity and 130% increase in severe obesity. Chronic pain is a highly prevalent condition with 31% of men and 37% of women in England reporting chronic pain. Whilst increased weight has mechanical effects that relate to back pain, this relationship is complex and does not account for the variability and the presence of nonmechanical back pain. Increased fat mass has been found to be associated with higher levels of low back pain; however, the mechanism that leads to this association remains unclear. Obesity can cause hormonal changes. The involvement of food intake regulating hormones, such as leptin and ghrelin in pain has been observed in animal models but not as yet researched in humans. The aim of this project is to evaluate whether obesity leads to increased pain.
All of the following assessments will take place before and six months after bariatric surgery in the following order.
Hormone levels (leptin and ghrelin) will be measured through blood samples.
The participants pain experience before each of the sessions will be assessed using the Graded Chronic Pain Scale which is considered a valid and reliable questionnaire for several pain problems. This questionnaire contains seven numeric rating scales (0–10) that measure pain intensity and disability. Participants also register the total number of disability days during the past 6 months.
To standardise the hand temperature the subject will be instructed to place their non-dominant hand (not used to write) and wrist in a container with water at room temperature (≈21 °C) for one minute. The participant will then be instructed to place their hand and wrist into a cold water (7-8° C) bath for 90 seconds. At the end of the time period the participant will be asked to remove their hand and wrap it in a towel provided by the researcher.
Using a numerical rating scale, the participants will be asked to rate the task experience based on pain intensity and pain affect. For pain intensity, participants will indicate the worst pain and the pain just before the end of the immersion on an 11 point numerical rating scale (0 = ‘‘no pain”; 10 = ‘‘the worst imaginable pain”). For pain affect participants will be asked to indicate how unpleasant the experience was and how anxious and tense they were during immersion on a 11 point scale (0 = ‘‘not anxious/relaxed/pleasant”; 10 = ‘‘very anxious/tense/unpleasant”).
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EM/0362
Date of REC Opinion
18 Aug 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion