(201) Disparities in Laboratory Pain amongst Latinx- and White-Americans

Abstract

Prior research on laboratory pain among Latinx-Americans shows an enhanced pain sensitivity relative to White-Americans. However, the three laboratory pain studies that have included Latinx-Americans have only examined static pain measures (i.e., tolerances and thresholds). Here, we examine pain sensitivity among 25 Latinx-Americans (48%f) and 37 White-Americans (54%f) using both static and dynamic measures of pain (i.e., mechanical temporal summation (MTS), conditioned pain modulation (CPM)). Consistent with prior work, Latinx-Americans had lower pain thresholds and tolerances across modalities (i.e., heat, cold, pressure; ds:0.29-0.75). Latinx-Americans also had greater MTS (d = .41) as well as cold-pain after sensations (d = .45), than White-Americans. However, CPM did not differ between groups (d = 0.06). These results extend previous findings and suggest that observed differences in pain sensitivity between Latinx- and White-Americans may be due to enhanced sensitization, rather than altered top-down modulation.