Distress is positively associated with induced secondary hyperalgesia in people with suppressed HIV

Pain and symptoms of depression and anxiety (here, ‘psychological distress’) are frequently reported by people with HIV. Although pain is widely acknowledged to contribute to distress, distress may also contribute to pain and its persistence. Facilitation of nociceptive signalling is one pathway by which distress could exacerbate pain. The current study investigated the relationships between symptoms of depression and anxiety, secondary hyperalgesia (SH), and persistent pain in people with HIV, reporting pain (n=19) or no pain (n=26). We hypothesised that self-reported distress would be positively associated with the surface area (primary measure) and magnitude (secondary measure) of induced SH, and that participants reporting persistent pain would display greater induced SH than those reporting no pain. We found that distress was positively associated with the surface area (p=0.02) and the magnitude (p=0.01) of induced SH. However, participants with persistent pain showed no difference in the surface area of SH compared to pain-free participants (p=0.87), and those with pain displayed a marginally lower magnitude of SH (p=0.05). These findings position SH as a potentially useful mechanistic outcome for interventions that aim to address pain by reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety.