title: Pain Rating in Women with Provoked Vestibulodynia: Evaluating Influence of Race.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic pain may be perceived differently according to gender and race, which may affect physical health and psychological wellbeing. We evaluated daily pain ratings in black women as compared to white women with provoked vestibulodynia (PVD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-one women (44 black, 27 white) rated pain severity with tampon insertion and sexual intercourse and recorded daily vulvar pain level on a visual analogue scale (0 = no pain to 10 = worst pain imaginable). In addition, they completed the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) Interference Scale and Hamilton Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS). Multivariate analysis was performed to determine the effect of race on pain intensity after adjusting for functional impairment, affective distress and demographic characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pain ratings from tampon insertion (6.37 ± 1.89 vs. 5.61 ± 1.98, p = .12) and sexual intercourse (6.28 ± 2.11 vs. 5.29 ± 2.50, p = 0.24) were similar, but daily vulvar pain (4.57 ± 2.27 vs 2.74 ± 2.43, p = <.01) was significantly higher in black women. BPI-interference scores were associated with small, but significant increases in tampon insertion pain (p = <.01, beta = .06 units) and daily pain (p < .01, beta = .10 units) and to a lesser degree with sexual intercourse pain when corrected for multiple comparisons (p = .05, beta = .06 units). Race had no effect on pain after adjusting for other variables.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While race was associated with functional impairment, after accounting for this, race was not associated with level of vulvar pain with PVD.
authors.affiliation: 1 Departments of Clinical Pharmacy and Psychiatry Pharmacy Building, University of Tennessee Health Science Center Memphis , Tennessee.
authors.forename: Candace
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School , New Brunswick, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Gloria A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Bachmann
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center Memphis , Tennesee.
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: 4 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester Medical Center , Rochester, New York.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Foster
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044383:Black People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003075:Coitus / Q000523:psychology*; D004414:Dyspareunia / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017699:Pelvic Pain / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014844:Vulva / Q000503:physiopathology*; D056650:Vulvodynia / Q000208:ethnology*; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001741:Black or African American