Pain Empathy and Its Association with the Clinical Pain in Knee Osteoarthritis Patients
Ruipeng Zhao,1 Yupei Ji,2 Jiahui Li,1 Xinhua Li,1 Ting Wu,1 Hongru Wu,3 Cuizhen Liu2 1Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Shanxi Key Laboratory of Bone and Soft Tissue Injury Repair, Taiyuan, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Dove Medical Press
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Pain Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.dovepress.com/pain-empathy-and-its-association-with-the-clinical-pain-in-knee-osteoa-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-JPR |
| _version_ | 1797979748412948480 |
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| author | Zhao R Ji Y Li J Li X Wu T Wu H Liu C |
| author_facet | Zhao R Ji Y Li J Li X Wu T Wu H Liu C |
| author_sort | Zhao R |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Ruipeng Zhao,1 Yupei Ji,2 Jiahui Li,1 Xinhua Li,1 Ting Wu,1 Hongru Wu,3 Cuizhen Liu2 1Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Shanxi Key Laboratory of Bone and Soft Tissue Injury Repair, Taiyuan, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China; 3Shanxi Institute of Sports Science, Taiyuan, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Cuizhen Liu, 199 South Chang’an Road, Xi’an, 710062, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-15129060061, Email liucuizhen28@gmail.comObjective: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a painful chronic disorder. Evidence has shown that a history of chronic pain plays an important role in shaping empathy. Empathy, a valuable indicator of social functioning that refers to an individual’s ability to share the experiences of others, however, has been overlooked in KOA patients. This study aimed to investigate empathy and its association with clinical pain in KOA patients.Methods: KOA patients (n=47) and healthy controls (HCs, n=44) completed two empathy-for-pain tasks: a pain judgment task in which participants judged whether a person in an image felt pain or not, and a pain rating task in which they estimated pain intensity for themselves and others. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index was used to measure participants’ trait empathy, and clinical severity and psychological factors were assessed using relevant instruments.Results: Compared to HCs, KOA patients showed higher accuracy when judging pain and non-pain images and reported overall higher pain intensity when rating for themselves and others. KOA patients also showed greater personal distress than HCs in terms of their self-reported empathy. Moreover, pain catastrophizing particularly mediated the relationship between pain severity and pain ratings for others, and depression, anxiety, and pain catastrophizing all mediated the association between pain severity and empathy-induced personal distress.Conclusion: These findings suggest that patients with KOA have increased empathy, demonstrated by elevated sensitivity to pain-related scenes and intense emotional responses.Keywords: empathy, pain, knee osteoarthritis, pain catastrophizing, emotion |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:43:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8baf56324ce0445ebaf140e8fa76c289 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1178-7090 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:43:36Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Dove Medical Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Pain Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-8baf56324ce0445ebaf140e8fa76c2892022-12-22T04:42:19ZengDove Medical PressJournal of Pain Research1178-70902022-12-01Volume 154017402780436Pain Empathy and Its Association with the Clinical Pain in Knee Osteoarthritis PatientsZhao RJi YLi JLi XWu TWu HLiu CRuipeng Zhao,1 Yupei Ji,2 Jiahui Li,1 Xinhua Li,1 Ting Wu,1 Hongru Wu,3 Cuizhen Liu2 1Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Shanxi Key Laboratory of Bone and Soft Tissue Injury Repair, Taiyuan, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China; 3Shanxi Institute of Sports Science, Taiyuan, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Cuizhen Liu, 199 South Chang’an Road, Xi’an, 710062, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-15129060061, Email liucuizhen28@gmail.comObjective: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a painful chronic disorder. Evidence has shown that a history of chronic pain plays an important role in shaping empathy. Empathy, a valuable indicator of social functioning that refers to an individual’s ability to share the experiences of others, however, has been overlooked in KOA patients. This study aimed to investigate empathy and its association with clinical pain in KOA patients.Methods: KOA patients (n=47) and healthy controls (HCs, n=44) completed two empathy-for-pain tasks: a pain judgment task in which participants judged whether a person in an image felt pain or not, and a pain rating task in which they estimated pain intensity for themselves and others. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index was used to measure participants’ trait empathy, and clinical severity and psychological factors were assessed using relevant instruments.Results: Compared to HCs, KOA patients showed higher accuracy when judging pain and non-pain images and reported overall higher pain intensity when rating for themselves and others. KOA patients also showed greater personal distress than HCs in terms of their self-reported empathy. Moreover, pain catastrophizing particularly mediated the relationship between pain severity and pain ratings for others, and depression, anxiety, and pain catastrophizing all mediated the association between pain severity and empathy-induced personal distress.Conclusion: These findings suggest that patients with KOA have increased empathy, demonstrated by elevated sensitivity to pain-related scenes and intense emotional responses.Keywords: empathy, pain, knee osteoarthritis, pain catastrophizing, emotionhttps://www.dovepress.com/pain-empathy-and-its-association-with-the-clinical-pain-in-knee-osteoa-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-JPRempathypainknee osteoarthritispain catastrophizingemotion |
| spellingShingle | Zhao R Ji Y Li J Li X Wu T Wu H Liu C Pain Empathy and Its Association with the Clinical Pain in Knee Osteoarthritis Patients Journal of Pain Research empathy pain knee osteoarthritis pain catastrophizing emotion |
| title | Pain Empathy and Its Association with the Clinical Pain in Knee Osteoarthritis Patients |
| title_full | Pain Empathy and Its Association with the Clinical Pain in Knee Osteoarthritis Patients |
| title_fullStr | Pain Empathy and Its Association with the Clinical Pain in Knee Osteoarthritis Patients |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pain Empathy and Its Association with the Clinical Pain in Knee Osteoarthritis Patients |
| title_short | Pain Empathy and Its Association with the Clinical Pain in Knee Osteoarthritis Patients |
| title_sort | pain empathy and its association with the clinical pain in knee osteoarthritis patients |
| topic | empathy pain knee osteoarthritis pain catastrophizing emotion |
| url | https://www.dovepress.com/pain-empathy-and-its-association-with-the-clinical-pain-in-knee-osteoa-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-JPR |
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