Race, Ethnicity, and Pain among the U.S. Adult Population

• Published in: Journal of health care for the poor and underserved 2010-02, Vol.21 (1), p.177-220
• Main Authors: Shavers, Vickie L, Bakos, Alexis, Sheppard, Vanessa B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Analgesics; Attitudes; Behavior; Chronic illnesses; Emergency medical care; Ethnic differences; Ethnic groups; Ethnic Groups - statistics & numerical data; Ethnicity; Health care access; Health facilities; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health Services Accessibility; Health Status Disparities; Hispanic Americans; Hospitals; Humans; Medical service; Minorities; Pain; Pain - ethnology; Pain Management; Patients; Physician-Patient Relations; Psychology; Race; Racial differences; Religion; Risk Factors; Spirituality; United States; White people
• ISSN: 1049-2089; 1548-6869; 1548-6869
• DOI: 10.1353/hpu.0.0255

There is reliable evidence that racial/ethnic minorities suffer disproportionately from unrelieved pain compared with Whites. Several factors may contribute to disparities in pain management. Understanding how these factors influence effective pain management among racial/ethnic minority populations would be helpful for developing tailored interventions designed to eliminate racial/ethnic disparities in pain management. We conducted a review of the literature to explore the interaction between race/ethnicity, cultural influences; pain perception, assessment, and communication; provider and patient characteristics; and health system factors and how they might contribute to racial/ethnic disparities in receipt of effective pain management. The published literature from 1990-2008 was searched for articles with data on racial/ethnic patterns of pain management as well as racially, ethnically, and culturally-specific attitudes toward pain, pain assessment, and communication; provider prescribing patterns; community access to pain medications; and pain coping strategies among U.S. adults. The literature suggests that racial/ethnic disparities in pain management may operate through limited access to health care and appropriate analgesics; patient access to or utilization of pain specialists; miscommunication and/or misperceptions about the presence and/or severity of pain; patient attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that influence the acceptance of appropriate analgesics and analgesic doses; and provider attitudes, knowledge and beliefs about patient pain.