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Table 2 Summary of psychophysics of temperature thresholds necessary to produce ratings at each condition

From: Sex differences in psychophysical and neurophysiological responses to pain in older adults: a cross-sectional study

Variables

Min

Max

Median

IQR

p valuea

Effect sizeb

Temperature

      

 Warmth

Males

31

38

33.0

32.0–33.0

0.186

0.41

Females

31

35

32.0

32.0–32.8

 Mild pain

Males

34

47

38.5

35.0–44.0

0.002

0.92

Females

33

39

35.0

34.0–36.0

 Moderate pain

Males

37

48

44.0

40.3–47.3

0.007

0.99

Females

36

46

38.0

38.0–41.8

 Mild pain > warmthc

Males

1.0

15.0

5.0

3.0–10.3

0.037

0.84

Females

1.0

6.0

2.5

2.0–4.5

 Moderate pain > warmthc

Males

5.0

17.0

11.5

7.0–12.0

0.081

0.30

Females

3.0

13.0

6.0

5.2–10.0

Unpleasantness

      

 Warmth

Males

0.0

8.0

0.5

0.0–2.7

0.379

0.30

Females

0.0

4.5

0.0

0.0–2.2

 Mild pain

Males

0.0

16.0

3.8

0.1–7.3

0.428

0.25

Females

0.0

5.0

3.5

0.0–5.0

 Moderate pain

Males

2.5

19.0

7.0

5.0–11.8

0.028

0.72

Females

0.0

9.0

5.0

3.1–7.8

 Mild pain > warmthd

Males

−8.0

16.0

3.0

0.1–4.0

0.431

0.76

Females

0.0

5.0

1.5

0.0–3.0

 Moderate pain > mild paind

Males

−3.0

19.0

6.3

5.0–9.0

0.051

0.78

Females

0.0

9.0

4.3

2.7–5.0

  1. Summary of psychophysics of temperature thresholds necessary to produce warmth, mild pain, or moderate pain, and unpleasantness ratings at each condition (age/matched N = 24; n = 12 male; n = 12 female)
  2. a p value derived from post hoc Wald χ 2 (df = 1) tests of group differences for each condition
  3. bCohen’s d for transformed normal data
  4. cDifference in degrees Celsius between mild pain and moderate pain
  5. dDifference between verbal report of mild pain and moderate pain (0–20 unpleasantness scale)