Now, researchers aim to answer these questions in the upcoming STARPOP project (Sensory Testing in an ARctic POPulation).
The findings could improve how results from pain research are interpreted—especially studies using Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST), a method for measuring sensitivity and pain thresholds.
QST relies on a large international database of data from healthy individuals, sorted by age and gender. However, this database currently lacks data from Arctic populations. STARPOP will fill that gap by collecting measurements from 50 healthy participants, starting in Tromsø in 2026.
-Our goal is to determine whether geographic and climatic differences influence sensory perception and pain thresholds, says Professor Frauke Musial, who heads up the project.
More information will follow.
