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Anxiety sensitivity and Pain Experience: a prospective investigation among World Trade Center Responders

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Abstract

Chronic pain is a significant public health problem and is exacerbated by stress. The World Trade Center (WTC) Disaster represents a unique stressor, and responders to the WTC disaster are at increased risk for pain and other health complaints. Therefore, there is a significant need to identify vulnerability factors for exacerbated pain experience among this high-risk population. Anxiety sensitivity (AS), defined as fear of anxiety-related sensations, is one such vulnerability factor associated with pain intensity and disability. Yet, no work has tested the predictive effects of AS on pain, limiting conclusions regarding the predictive utility and direction of associations. Therefore, the current study examined the prospective associations of AS, pain intensity, and pain interference among 452 (Mage = 55.22, SD = 8.73, 89.4% male) responders to the WTC disaster completing a 2-week daily diary study. Using multi-level modeling, AS total score was positively associated with both pain intensity and pain interference, and that AS cognitive concerns, but not social or physical concerns, were associated with increased pain. These results highlight the importance of AS as a predictor of pain complaints among WTC responders and provide initial empirical evidence to support AS as a clinical target for treating pain complaints among WTC responders.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Houston, 3695 Cullen Blvd., Room 126, 77204, Houston, TX, USA

    Andrew H. Rogers, Michael J. Zvolensky & Anka A. Vujanovic

  2. Department of Behavioral Science, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

    Michael J. Zvolensky

  3. HEALTH Institute, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Michael J. Zvolensky

  4. Department of Psychology, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA

    Camilo J. Ruggero

  5. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States

    Joshua Oltmanns, Benjamin J. Luft & Roman Kotov

  6. Department of Psychology, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL, United States

    Monika A. Waszczuk

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  1. Andrew H. Rogers
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Rogers, A.H., Zvolensky, M.J., Vujanovic, A.A. et al. Anxiety sensitivity and Pain Experience: a prospective investigation among World Trade Center Responders. J Behav Med 45, 947–953 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-022-00336-z

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