Pain threshold to mechanical stimulus was determined in 140 subjects comprising of healthy volunteers of both sexes and of different ages, females taking oral contraceptives and bilaterally oopherectomised females. Pain threshold was observed to be low in oopherectomised females, boys and girls and intermediate in healthy males. It was high in menstruating females aged 18-21 years. There was a marked fluctuation in pain threshold in menstruating females. It was low at menstrual phase. In females taking oral contraceptives it was high at pre and midmenstrual phases. In females not taking oral contraceptives it was low at pre-menstrual and high as midmenstrual phases.
PIP: Pain thresholds were assessed in 140 healthy men, women, women taking oral contraceptives, ovariectomized women and children of both sexes to examine the effect of sec hormones. The subjects were 25 women aged 18- 21 (students), 20 women aged 30-40, 25 women taking oral contraceptives, 20 ovariectomized women aged 20-40, 25 males aged 20-22 (medical students), 12 girls aged 8-13 and 13 boys aged 13. Pain threshold was measured by enclosing a serrated metal bottle cap under a blood pressure sphygmomanometer cuff on the forearm and increasing pressure stepwise by 4 mm Hg for 5 sec intervals, until the subject experienced pricking pain, repeating the test 3 times at 10 minute intervals, averaging 9 tests at 10 day intervals for 3 successive months. Pain threshold was low in ovariectomized women, boys and girls (73-81), intermediate in men (94), and high in cycling women (88.6-124). In menstruating women pain thresholds were highest in mid-menstrual phase, and in those on oral contraceptives pain thresholds were highest at pre- and mid-menstrual phases.