Morris Matthew C, Goodin Burel R, Bruehl Stephen, Myers Hector, Rao Uma, Karlson Cynthia, Huber Felicitas A, Nag Subodh, Carter Chelsea, Kinney Kerry, Dickens Harrison
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA.
Department of Anesthesiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
J Behav Med. 2023 Dec;46(6):996-1009. doi: 10.1007/s10865-023-00440-8. Epub 2023 Aug 10.
African Americans are disproportionately exposed to adversity across the lifespan, which includes both stressful and traumatic events. Adversity, in turn, is associated with alterations in pain responsiveness. Racial differences in pain responsiveness among healthy adults are well established. However, the extent to which adversity type and timing are associated with alterations in pain responsiveness among healthy African-American adults is not well understood. The present study included 160 healthy African-American adults (98 women), ages 18 to 45. Outcome measures included pain tolerance and temporal summation of pain to evoked thermal pain. Composite scores were created for early-life adversity (childhood trauma, family adversity) and recent adversity (perceived stress, chronic stress burden). A measure of lifetime racial discrimination was also included. Higher levels of recent adversity were associated with higher temporal summation of pain, controlling for gender, age, and education. Neither early-life adversity nor lifetime racial discrimination were associated with temporal summation of pain. The present findings suggest that heightened temporal summation of pain among healthy African-American adults is associated with exposure to recent adversity events. Improved understanding of how recent adversity contributes to heightened temporal summation of pain in African Americans could help to mitigate racial disparities in pain experiences by identifying at-risk individuals who could benefit from early interventions.
非裔美国人在其一生中面临逆境的比例过高，这些逆境包括压力事件和创伤性事件。反过来，逆境又与疼痛反应性的改变有关。健康成年人在疼痛反应性方面的种族差异已得到充分证实。然而，对于健康的非裔美国成年人而言，逆境类型和时机与疼痛反应性改变之间的关联程度尚不清楚。本研究纳入了160名年龄在18至45岁之间的健康非裔美国成年人（98名女性）。结果指标包括疼痛耐受性和对诱发热痛的疼痛时间总和。为早年逆境（童年创伤、家庭逆境）和近期逆境（感知压力、慢性压力负担）创建了综合评分。还纳入了一项终生种族歧视的测量指标。在控制了性别、年龄和教育因素后，近期逆境水平较高与疼痛时间总和较高相关。早年逆境和终生种族歧视均与疼痛时间总和无关。目前的研究结果表明，健康的非裔美国成年人疼痛时间总和增加与近期逆境事件的暴露有关。更好地理解近期逆境如何导致非裔美国人疼痛时间总和增加，有助于通过识别可能从早期干预中受益的高危个体来减轻疼痛体验方面的种族差异。
