Evaluation of pain and stress in healthy volunteers undergoing research lumbar punctures

The use of lumbar punctures (LPs) in clinical research is increasing as emerging data demonstrate that CSF biomarkers can provide useful information about neurophysiology and the pathogenesis of diseases such as Alzheimer disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Parkinson disease. Given the invasive nature of LPs, we sought to prospectively evaluate pain and hormonal indices of stress in participants undergoing research LPs in order to improve the quality of informed consent.