The association of dispositional optimism and handedness with pressure pain: A cross-sectional study in the general population

This study aimed to investigate the association between dispositional optimism, handedness and pressure pain perception in general population and under experimental conditions. We included 2500 community-dwelling adults of both sexes from Croatia in a cross-sectional study. We measured pressure pain threshold, pressure pain tolerance, and pressure pain interval using a hand-held algometer. A detailed questionnaire was used to collect data on sociodemographic and psychological characteristics. The association between optimism and pain measures was assessed using multiple linear regression analysis, controlling for sex, age, and a number of socioeconomic and psychological confounding factors. Additionally, we tested whether handedness was associated with pain perception. Dispositional optimism was significantly and positively associated with pressure pain tolerance and interval on both hands, but not with pain threshold. Pressure pain perception did not differ substantially according to handedness, and only right-handed subjects displayed higher pain threshold, tolerance and pain interval on their dominant hand. These findings suggest that optimists can tolerate acute pressure pain better, but they are equally sensitive to pain. Further studies are needed to demonstrate causality between optimism and pain tolerance, and possibly even to translate these findings into supplementary, non-pharmaceutical optimism-based clinical pain management.