The Effects of Health-Related Lifestyle Factors and Sex on Neural Mechanosensitivity in University Students

This is an observational, analytical, cross-sectional study designed to evaluate neural mechanosensitivity in healthy university students and to explore its association with health-related lifestyle factors and sex. The main objective is to determine whether alcohol consumption, smoking status, physical activity level, sex, age, and body mass index are associated with pressure pain threshold values measured over the tibial and peroneal nerves.

The study population will consist of students enrolled at Fenerbahçe University. Participants must be between 18 and 30 years of age, willing to participate voluntarily, and able to provide written informed consent. Individuals will be excluded if they have a diagnosed neurological disease, lower extremity musculoskeletal injury or previous surgery, acute pain, diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, systemic disorders that may affect nerve sensitivity, skin lesions or infection at the test site, or use of analgesic or neurologically active medication that could influence the measurements.

Data will be collected in person. After informed consent is obtained, participants will complete a personal information form developed by the investigators. This form will record sociodemographic characteristics and lifestyle-related variables, including age, sex, height, weight, alcohol consumption, smoking status, and physical activity habits. Body mass index will be calculated from height and weight data.

Neural mechanosensitivity will be assessed by pressure pain threshold measurements using a digital algometer. Measurements will be performed over standardized anatomical points corresponding to the tibial nerve and the common peroneal nerve. Pressure will be increased gradually at an approximate rate of 0.5 to 1 kg/cm²/s, and participants will be instructed to indicate when the sensation first becomes painful. Three repeated measurements will be obtained at each site, and the mean value will be used in the analyses. The algometer will be checked according to the manufacturer's calibration standards.

The planned minimum sample size is 55 participants, based on an a priori power analysis performed with G*Power 3.1, assuming an alpha of 0.05, a statistical power of 0.80, and a medium effect size. Statistical analyses will be conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics version 22. Descriptive statistics will summarize participant characteristics. Normality will be assessed using the Shapiro-Wilk test and visual methods. Group comparisons for lifestyle-related factors will be performed using one-way ANOVA, sex differences will be examined using the independent samples t-test, associations with age and body mass index will be tested using Pearson correlation analysis, and linear regression analysis will be used to further evaluate the effect of sex on pressure pain threshold values. Statistical significance will be set at p < 0.05.