Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities
-
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities · Jun 2019
Comparative StudyComparisons of Conditioned Pain Modulation and Physical Activity Between Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White Adults.
It is well-documented that adults of racial/ethnic minorities experience pain more frequently and suffer from more severe pain compared to non-Hispanic White (NHW) adults. These observations are consistent with laboratory findings that adults of racial/ethnic minorities show increased sensitivity to laboratory pain stimuli compared to NHW adults. Research generally shows that central pain inhibitory processing, as quantified using conditioned pain modulation (CPM), serves as a risk factor of clinical pain. ⋯ Results indicated that Hispanic and NHW adults exhibited comparable CPM responses and PA levels, along with similar levels of pain catastrophizing and dispositional optimism (p > 0.05). These results suggest that young, healthy Hispanic and NHW adults may possess a similar risk of clinical pain when they are comparable in PA, pain catastrophizing, and dispositional optimism. More research is needed to explore the role of PA in racial/ethnic disparities in clinical pain and central pain inhibitory processing.