<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Accurate assessment of experienced pain is a well-known problem in the clinical practices. Therefore, a proper method for pain detection is highly desirable. Electrodermal activity (EDA) is known as a measure of the sympathetic nervous system activity, which changes during various mental stresses. As pain causes mental stress, EDA measures may reflect the felt pain. This study aims to evaluate changes in skin conductance responses (SCRs), skin potential responses (SPRs), and skin susceptance responses (SSRs) simultaneously as a result of sequences of electrical (painful) stimuli with different intensities. EDA responses as results of painful stimuli were recorded from 40 healthy volunteers. The stimuli with three different intensities were produced by using an electrical stimulator. EDA responses significantly changed (increased) with respect to the intensity of the stimuli. Both SCRs and SSRs showed linear relationship with the painful stimuli. It was found that the EDA responses, particularly SCRs (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) and SSRs (<italic>p</italic> = 0.001) were linearly affected by the intensity of the painful stimuli. EDA responses, in particular SCRs, may be used as a useful indicator for assessment of experienced pain in clinical settings.</p></abstract>

Accurate assessment of experienced pain is a well-known problem in the clinical practices. Therefore, a proper method for pain detection is highly desirable. Electrodermal activity (EDA) is known as a measure of the sympathetic nervous system activity, which changes during various mental stresses. As pain causes mental stress, EDA measures may reflect the felt pain. This study aims to evaluate changes in skin conductance responses (SCRs), skin potential responses (SPRs), and skin susceptance responses (SSRs) simultaneously as a result of sequences of electrical (painful) stimuli with different intensities. EDA responses as results of painful stimuli were recorded from 40 healthy volunteers. The stimuli with three different intensities were produced by using an electrical stimulator. EDA responses significantly changed (increased) with respect to the intensity of the stimuli. Both SCRs and SSRs showed linear relationship with the painful stimuli. It was found that the EDA responses, particularly SCRs (p < 0.001) and SSRs (p = 0.001) were linearly affected by the intensity of the painful stimuli. EDA responses, in particular SCRs, may be used as a useful indicator for assessment of experienced pain in clinical settings.

Electrodermal activity responses for quantitative assessment of felt pain

Journal of Electrical Bioimpedance

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Electrodermal activity responses for quantitative assessment of felt pain"}

Accurate assessment of experienced pain is a well-known problem in the clinical practices. Therefore, a proper method for pain detection is highly desirable....

Parameter	Description	Unit
SCR_Amp	Amplitude of the skin conductance response	μS
SPR_Amp	Amplitude of the skin potential response	mV
SSR_Amp	Amplitude of the skin susceptance response	μS
SPRET	Turning point of the SPR relative to the SCR peak	%
SCR_Trise	Time from onset of SCR to peak SCR	sec.

			95% CI
Parameters	Estimate	p value	Lower	Upper
SCRs	4.255	<0.001	2.490	6.019
SPRs	-0.296	0.157	-0.709	0.116
SSRs	-0.384	0.001	-0.620	-0.143

Electrodermal activity responses for quantitative assessment of felt pain

Article Category: Research articles

Published Online: Dec 19, 2018

Page range: 52 - 58

Received: Jul 31, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/joeb-2018-0010

Keywords
Pain, stimuli, electrodermal activity, EDA, skin conductance, skin potential, skin susceptance

© 2018 Dindar S. Bari, Haval Y. Yacoob Aldosky, Christian Tronstad, Håvard Kalvøy, Ørjan G. Martinsen published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

Overview of extracted parameters from the EDA responses that were used in the data analyses.

Statistical analysis with a linear mixed effects model.

Electrodermal activity responses for quantitative assessment of felt pain

Article Category: Research articles

Published Online: Dec 19, 2018

Page range: 52 - 58

Received: Jul 31, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/joeb-2018-0010

KeywordsPain, stimuli, electrodermal activity, EDA, skin conductance, skin potential, skin susceptance

© 2018 Dindar S. Bari, Haval Y. Yacoob Aldosky, Christian Tronstad, Håvard Kalvøy, Ørjan G. Martinsen published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

Overview of extracted parameters from the EDA responses that were used in the data analyses.

Statistical analysis with a linear mixed effects model.

Keywords
Pain, stimuli, electrodermal activity, EDA, skin conductance, skin potential, skin susceptance