• Megan M Miller, Deanna D Rumble, Adam T Hirsh, Tine Vervoort, Lori E Crosby, Avi Madan-Swain, Jeffrey Lebensburger, Anna M Hood, and Zina Trost.
• Department of Psychology, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis,Indiana, USA.
• Pain Med. 2021 Oct 8; 22 (10): 2207-2217.

ObjectivesSickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetic disorder that affects approximately 100,000 Americans, the majority of whom are African American. SCD-related pain often has deleterious effects on functioning and quality of life. The inherited nature of SCD, SCD-related stigma, and serious physical and functional impact of SCD-related pain create a situation ripe for individuals to appraise their SCD-related pain as unfair or unjust. The aim of this preliminary investigation is to explore the extent to which pediatric patients with SCD appraise their pain as unjust and how these appraisals relate to functioning.MethodsParticipants were youth with SCD (N = 30, mean age = 11.3, 57% boys) who attended a hematology clinic visit. Patients were invited to complete paper-based questionnaires assessing pain-related injustice appraisals, pain catastrophizing, pain and hurt, functional disability, depression, anxiety, and peer relationships.ResultsResults of hierarchical regressions indicate that pain-related injustice significantly predicted functional disability, depression, and anxiety after controlling for patient pain and catastrophizing.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that pain-related injustice appraisals are an important contributor to the pain experience of youth with SCD. Early identification and remediation of pain-related injustice appraisals could have long-term functional benefits for youth with SCD.© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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