Cortisol affects pain sensitivity and pain-related emotional learning in experimental visceral but not somatic pain: a randomized controlled study in healthy men and women

Despite growing interest in the role of stress mediators in pain chronicity, the effects of the stress hormone cortisol on acute pain remain incompletely understood. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study with N = 100 healthy volunteers, we tested the effects of oral hydrocortisone (20 mg) in 2 widely used pain models for the visceral and somatic modality. Salivary cortisol was increased in the hydrocortisone group (time × group: P
Source: Pain - Category: Anesthesiology Tags: Research Paper Source Type: research