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Table 2 Detection- and pain thresholds per age group

From: Thermal quantitative sensory testing in healthy Dutch children and adolescents standardized test paradigm and Dutch reference values

Control group

Total group

8–9 years

10–11 years

12–13 years

14–17 years

P-value

(n = 69)

(n = 69)

(n = 14)

(n = 31)

(n = 12)

(n = 12)

Method of Limits (MLI)

Cold detection threshold °C

Mean (SD)

30.7 (0.7)

30.6 (0.9)

30.6 (0.8)

30.8 (0.5)

31.0 (0.4)

0.43

Median (IQR)

30.9 (30.4 to 31.1)

30.8 (30.3 to 31.1)

30.8 (30.3 to 31.1)

30.8 (30.6 to 31.1)

31.0 (30.8 to 31.3)

Warm detection threshold °C

Mean (SD)

33.9 (1.2)

34.6 (1.7)

33.8 (0.9)

34.1 (1.1)

33.2 (0.5)

0.01*

Median (IQR)

33.5 (33.1 to 34.3)

34.1 (33.5 to 35.9)

33.5 (33.2 to 34.0)

33.9 (33.3 to 35.0)

33.1 (32.9 to 33.2)

Cold pain threshold °C

Mean (SD)

10.0 (9.1)

9.7 (10.8)

9.2 (9.4)

12.3 (9.0)

10.0 (6.7)

0.81

Median (IQR)

8.0 (0.7 to 17.7)

3.9 (0.0 to 21.8)

7.3 (0.0 to 15.1)

14.6 (3.0 to 19.1)

11.3 (3.1 to 15.3)

Threshold not reached

N (%)

27 (39)

8 (57.1)

14 (45.2)

3 (25.0)

2 (16.7)

0.12

Heat pain threshold °C

Mean (SD)

45.9 (4.2)

43.2 (5.4)

46.9 (3.7)

45.9 (4.0)

46.2 (3.2)

0.051**

Median (IQR)

47.2 (42.2 to 50.0)

41.7 (38.5 to 49.3)

47.7 (44.6 to 50.0)

46.9 (41.8 to 50.0)

47.1 (43.2 to 49.3)

Threshold not reached

N (%)

28 (41)

6 (42.9)

16 (51.6)

4 (33.3)

2 (16.7)

0.20

Method of Levels (MLE)

Cold detection threshold °C

Mean (SD)

30.8 (1.2)

30.5 (1.4)

30.6 (1.4)

31.0 (0.6)

31.2 (0.4)

0.29

Median (IQR)

31.2 (30.4 to 31.5)

31.0 (29.9 to 31.5)

31.2 (30.4 to 31.5)

31.3 (30.4 to 31.5)

31.4 (31.2 to 31.5)

Number of stimuli

Mean (SD)

11 (3)

11 (4)

11 (3)

10 (3)

12 (3)

0.24

Median (IQR)

10 (9 to 12)

11 (9 to 13)

11 (9 to 12)

9 (8 to 11)

12 (9 to 14)

Warm detection threshold °C

Mean (SD)

33.6 (1.0)

33.7 (1.1)

33.7 (0.9)

33.6 (1.2)

33.1 (0.7)

0.21

Median (IQR)

33.6 (32.9 to 34.1)

33.4 (32.8 to 34.4)

33.9 (33.1 to 34.1)

33.4 (32.6 to 34.0)

32.8 (32.4 to 33.9)

Number of stimuli

Mean (SD)

9 (3)

10 (3)

9 (3)

9 (2)

10 (2)

0.25

Median (IQR)

9 (7 to 11)

10 (8 to 12)

8 (7 to 11)

8 (7 to 10)

10 (9 to 12)

  1. ANOVA test for continuous data and Chi squared test for categorical data were used to test differences between the four age groups
  2. *Post-hoc Bonferroni correction: 8–9 year old versus 14–17 years old; p = 0.01
  3. **Post-hoc Bonferroni correction: 8–9 year old versus 10–11 years old; p = 0.04
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