Figure 3.

Association between self-reported presence of chronic pain and DHEA-S and DHEA. For illustrative purposes, unstandardized residuals of DHEA-S and DHEA are shown, after taking into account the participant’s age, gender, race, and body mass index. The 429 individuals reporting persistent and chronic pain had DHEA-S and DHEA below the levels expected for their age, significantly lower than the 785 participants not experiencing chronic pain. This effect was more prominent for DHEA-S; participants reporting pain had larger, negative residuals than those with no pain (below the predicted level for their age; p < .01). Mean ± SE values are portrayed. *p < .05, significantly below residuals for those with no chronic pain. DHEA = dehydroepiandrosterone; DHEA-S = dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate.