ArticlePain reports
Increased pain sensitivity and pain-related anxiety in individuals with autism.
Article in Pain reports. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 62 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Reliable Effect of Alexithymia, but Not Autism, on Placebo Hypoalgesia.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- How the Brain Interprets Pain in Autistic People: Does Sex Matter?European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026Article
- Chronic Physical Pain in Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder in the United States: Findings from the 2016 - 2021 National Survey of Children's Health.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- A Cross-Neurotype Analysis of Camouflaging and Illness Perceptions in People with Central Sensitivity Syndromes.Autism in adulthood · 2026Article
- Pain Expectation in Individuals With High Autistic Traits: Decision-Evaluation Processes and Oxytocin Modulation.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2026Article
- Exploring Autistic People's Experiences of and Attitudes Towards Cervical Screening: A Mixed-Methods Study.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- Nursing Perspectives on Factors That Influence Provision of Patient-Centered Care for Autistic Patients in a Large Urban Hospital System: A Qualitative Study.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Article
- Defining Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Autistic People: A Framework for Assessment Using Key Elements to Aid in Characterization.Autism in adulthood · 2026Article
- Article
- RDoC Mechanisms Underlying Bodily Symptoms in Psychiatry: A Scoping Review.Psychology research and behavior management · 2026Review
- Autistic women report high levels of pain, pain-related anxiety, and pain interference.Pain reports · 2025Article
- Histone lactylation regulates DOCK4 to control heat nociception and supports Dynein-mediated Nav1.7 trafficking.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Somatosensory and prefrontal cortex activity relates to emotional outcomes and hair cortisol concentration in chronic postsurgical pain.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Central Sensitivity Symptoms and Autistic Traits in Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025Article
- Nutritional Intake and Sensory Processing in School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Variability in Pain Traits Among Young Individuals with High and Low Pain Sensitivity.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Social Determinants and Consequences of Pain: Toward Multilevel, Intersectional, and Life Course Perspectives.The journal of pain · 2024Review
- Assessing the COX-2/PGE2 Ratio and Anti-Nucleosome Autoantibodies as Biomarkers of Autism Spectrum Disorders: Using Combined ROC Curves to Improve Diagnostic Values.Current issues in molecular biology · 2024Article
- Childhood neurodivergent traits, inflammation and chronic disabling fatigue in adolescence: a longitudinal case-control study.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Autism and anaesthesia: a simple framework for everyday practice.BJA education · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionIndividuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit differences in pain responsivity. This altered responsivity could be related to ASD-related social communication difficulties, sensory differences, or altered processing of pain stimuli. Previous neuroimaging work suggests altered pain evaluation could contribute to pain-related anxiety in ASD.
objectivesWe hypothesized that individuals with ASD would report increased pain sensitivity and endorse more pain-related anxiety, compared to typically developing controls.
methodsWe recruited 43 adults (ASD, n = 24; typically developing, n = 19) for 3 heat pain tasks (applied to the calf). We measured heat pain thresholds using a method of limits approach, a pain-rating curve (7 temperatures between 40 and 48°C, 5 seconds, 5 trials each), and a sustained heat pain task with alternating low (42°C) and high (46°C) temperatures (21 seconds, 6 trials each). Individual differences in pain-related anxiety, fear of pain, situational pain catastrophizing, depressive symptoms, and autism-related social communication were assessed by self-report.
resultsThere were no group differences in pain thresholds. For suprathreshold tasks, mean pain ratings were higher in ASD across both the pain-rating curve and the sustained heat pain tasks, but responses in the ASD group were more varied. Pain anxiety (PASS-Total) and pain-related fear (FOP-III-Total) were higher in the ASD group and were positively associated with pain ratings.
conclusionsOur results suggest that both sensory and cognitive experiences of pain are heightened and interact reciprocally in adults with ASD. Future studies are needed to evaluate the impact of pain-related anxiety on treatment-seeking and pain behaviors, given higher levels of pain-related anxiety in ASD.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.