Perceived racial discrimination, but not mistrust of medical researchers, predicts the heat pain tolerance of African Americans with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis.
OBJECTIVE
Studies have shown that perceived racial discrimination is a significant predictor of clinical pain severity among African Americans. It remains unknown whether perceived racial discrimination also alters the nociceptive processing of painful stimuli, which, in turn, could influence clinical pain severity. This study examined associations between perceived racial discrimination and responses to noxious thermal stimuli among African Americans and non-Hispanic Whites. Mistrust of medical researchers was also assessed given its potential to affect responses to the noxious stimuli.


METHODS
One-hundred and 30 (52% African American, 48% non-Hispanic White) community-dwelling older adults with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis completed two study sessions. In session one, individuals provided demographic, socioeconomic, physical and mental health information. They completed questionnaires related to perceived lifetime frequency of racial discrimination and mistrust of medical researchers. In session two, individuals underwent a series of controlled thermal stimulation procedures to assess heat pain sensitivity, particularly heat pain tolerance.


RESULTS
African Americans were more sensitive to heat pain and reported greater perceived racial discrimination as well as greater mistrust of medical researchers compared with non-Hispanic Whites. Greater perceived racial discrimination significantly predicted lower heat pain tolerance for African Americans but not non-Hispanic Whites. Mistrust of medical researchers did not significantly predict heat pain tolerance for either racial group.


CONCLUSIONS
These results lend support to the idea that perceived racial discrimination may influence the clinical pain severity of African Americans via the nociceptive processing of painful stimuli.
Department of Psychology.
Burel R
BR
Goodin
Quyen T
QT
Pham
Toni L
TL
Glover
Adriana
A
Sotolongo
Christopher D
CD
King
Kimberly T
KT
Sibille
Matthew S
MS
Herbert
Yenisel
Y
Cruz-Almeida
Shelley H
SH
Sanden
Roland
R
Staud
David T
DT
Redden
Laurence A
LA
Bradley
Roger B
RB
Fillingim
D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000208:ethnology*; D010146:Pain / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D063505:Racism / Q000523:psychology*; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D035502:Trust; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data