Table 4.
Cognitive performance for Gulf War Veterans with chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) and healthy control Gulf War Veterans (CO) during Stroop-only runs and Pain+Stroop runs
| CMP (n=13) | CO (n=13) | p | Effect size (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CStroop-only run | ||||
| Correct responses (%)a | 98.2 (2.9) | 98.2 (4) | 0.84 | 0 |
| Reaction time (ms)b | 777.58 (109.36) | 733.92 (78.25) | 0.56 | 0.22 (0, 0.83) |
| Pain+CStroop run | ||||
| Correct responses (%)a | 87.5 (4.2) | 86.8 (4.9) | 0.51 | 0.23 (0, 0.8) |
| Reaction time (ms)b | 796.66 (125.21) | 747.15 (70.28) | 0.45 | 0.36 (0, 0.83) |
| IStroop-only run | ||||
| Correct responses (%)a | 96.8 (3.8) | 95.5 (7.6) | 0.81 | 0.08 (0, 0.78) |
| Reaction time (ms)b | 868.6 (93.7) | 838.02 (80.47) | 0.52 | 0.21 (0, 0.74) |
| Pain+IStroop run | ||||
| Correct responses (%)a | 86 (4.6) | 86.5 (3.1) | 0.99 | 0 (0, 0.64) |
| Reaction time (ms)b | 914.61 (118.27) | 866.79 (143.08) | 0.79 | 0.08 (0, 0.75) |
Note. Data are presented as averages across 5 total administration blocks.
a
Higher values indicate better performance;
b
Lower values indicate better performance. Mean (SD) stimulus temperatures (C°) for each group are: CMP = 48.15 (0.68) and Control = 47.76 (0.80). Effect sizes reflect Tian’s explanatory measure of effect size (ξ) with percentile bootstrapped 95% CI. Confidence interval boundaries that overlap zero are reported as 0. Values of 0.10, 0.30, and 0.50 were considered small, medium, and large, respectively.