Social Mechanisms of Psychophysical Pain Disparities

Abstract

Racial disparities in pain significantly contribute to the public health burden of pain in America and are observable at every level of the pain experience. Racial disparities are even observable in physiological pain response to controlled laboratory stimuli among young healthy populations. However, the mechanisms that underlie this disparity are unknown. Our overarching hypothesis is that disparities in pain sensitivity are due to disparities in social determinants of health that are known to alter central nervous system function. Supported by the APS Future Leaders in Pain Research grant, we are probing the mediating role of social factors on disparities in laboratory pain among community-dwelling (non-student) African-, Hispanic-, and White-American adults. Self-reported social determinants (e.g., lived environments) as well as response to acute exposure to adverse social experiences in the laboratory are being collected along with quantitative sensory testing measures. We hypothesize that acute exposure to adverse environments will cause an increase in laboratory-evoked pain compared to baseline. We also predict that accumulation of adverse social determinants (as assessed via self-report) will be associated with greater baseline pain sensitivity, and mediate observed racial disparities in laboratory pain. We will discuss results of this first study as well as the potential utility of these experimental models for use in future basic and intervention research.