Serum hormone levels in women with chronic pain v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Women in Pain Studies, Oxford: Serum hormone levels in women with chronic pain (WIPSOx1).
IRAS ID
138162
Contact name
Katy Vincent
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford, Clinical Trials and Research Governance Unit
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 1 days
Research summary
Chronic pain is a major public health issue with approximately 7.8 million people in the UK living with chronic pain. The problem is particularly pertinent to women. Not only are women over represented in almost all chronic pain disorders, they also suffer from female-specific pain conditions. Thus, more than one million women in the UK suffer with chronic pelvic pain (CPP) and a further one in eight experience severe period pain.
It is now known that many chronic pain conditions are associated with reduced activity of the stress response system, leading to low levels of the hormone cortisol. In women with period pain we showed that the cortisol level reduced with increasing duration of symptoms, suggesting this is a consequence not a cause of the pain. Other hormones, including oestrogen and testosterone may also be reduced by repeated stressful events, however, this has not been well investigated in the context of chronic pain. Low levels of these hormones in such women could be associated with infertility and low mood, as well as predisposing to the development of osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, we have recently demonstrated the key influence of these hormones on pain inhibitory pathways within the central nervous system in healthy women. Such that it now appears that low levels of estradiol, testosterone and cortisol may all exacerbate pain by reducing internal mechanisms of pain suppression.
This study aims to investigate 1) the extent to which hormone production is suppressed in women with chronic pain and 2) whether any clinical measures relate to the amount of suppression. This would allow us to identify which women with chronic pain may require investigation/hormone replacement to prevent medical comorbidities and inform the design of a future clinical trials investigating the potential role of sex steroid hormones as pain-killers.
REC name
South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SC/0077
Date of REC Opinion
24 Feb 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion