Age-, gender- and body site-specific reference values of thermal Quantitative Sensory Testing in the Italian population using the Q-sense device.

Background: Age-, gender- and body site-specific values of thermal Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) measures have not yet been reported using the novel and cheap device 'Q-sense'. Here, we aimed to assess normative values of Q-sense-derived parameters in a representative Italian population.

Methods: QST parameters were measured in 84 healthy participants (42 males; aged 20-76 years) equally distributed into three age groups (18-39, 40-59 and 60-80 years).