Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities
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J Racial Ethn Health Disparities · Jan 2021
The Association Between Adverse Life Events, Psychological Stress, and Pain-Promoting Affect and Cognitions in Native Americans: Results from the Oklahoma Study of Native American Pain Risk.
Native Americans (NAs) experience higher rates of chronic pain. To examine the mechanisms for this pain inequity, we have previously shown that NAs report higher levels of pain-related anxiety and pain catastrophizing, which are in turn related to pronociceptive (pain-promoting) processes. But, it is currently unclear why NAs would report greater pain-related anxiety and catastrophizing. ⋯ Notably, NAs did not report greater psychological distress when controlling for ALE exposure. This suggests that a higher risk of chronic pain in NAs may be due, in part, to psychological distress, pain-related anxiety, and pain catastrophizing that are promoted by exposure to ALEs. These results highlight several targets for intervention to decrease NA pain risk.