ArticlePain2020
Ethnic disparities in pain processing among healthy adults: μ-opioid receptor binding potential as a putative mechanism.
Article in Pain, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Improving Inclusion of Ethnically Diverse and Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Populations in Pain Research: A Comprehensive Review and Evidence-Based Recommendations.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Review
- Dyadic Comparison of Pain and Stress in Alzheimer's Disease and Caregivers.Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses · 2025Article
- Neuroimaging of opioid effects in humans across conditions of acute administration, chronic pain therapy, and opioid use disorder.Trends in neurosciences · 2024Review
- Discrimination exposure impacts unhealthy processing of food cues: crosstalk between the brain and gut.Nature. Mental health · 2023Article
- Preliminary Evidence for the Sequentially Mediated Effect of Racism-Related Stress on Pain Sensitivity Through Sleep Disturbance and Corticolimbic Opioid Receptor Function.The journal of pain · 2023Article
- The Experience of BIPOC Living with Chronic Pain in the USA: Biopsychosocial Factors that Underlie Racial Disparities in Pain Outcomes, Comorbidities, Inequities, and Barriers to Treatment.Current pain and headache reports · 2023Review
- Confronting Racism in All Forms of Pain Research: Reframing Study Designs.The journal of pain · 2022Article
- Chronic Pain Severity and Sociodemographics: An Evaluation of the Neurobiological Interface.The journal of pain · 2022Observational
- A social affective neuroscience lens on placebo analgesia.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2021Review
- Resilience, pain, and the brain: Relationships differ by sociodemographics.Journal of neuroscience research · 2021Observational
- Ethnic Differences in Experimental Pain Responses Following a Paired Verbal Suggestion With Saline Infusion: A Quasiexperimental Study.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2021Article
- Experimenter- and Infrared Thermography-Derived Measures of Capsaicin-Induced Neurogenic Flare Among Non-Hispanic White and Black Adults.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Although ethnic differences in pain perception are well documented, the underlying mechanism for these outcomes has not been established. µ-opioid receptor (MOR) function might contribute to this disparity, given that MORs play a key role in pain sensitivity and modulation. However, no study has characterized ethnic differences in MOR physiology. This study sought to address this knowledge gap by examining differences in µ-selective agonist binding potential (BPND; [C]-Carfentanil) between 27 non-Hispanic black (NHB) and 27 demographically similar, non-Hispanic white participants. Participants completed questionnaires and two 90-minute high-resolution research tomograph positron emission tomography (PET) imaging sessions. During PET imaging, a capsaicin or control cream was applied to individuals' arms, and pain ratings were collected. Bonferroni-corrected PET volumes of interest analyses revealed significantly greater [C]-Carfentanil BPND among NHB participants in bilateral ventral striatum ([left]: F1,52 = 16.38, P < 0.001; [right]: F1,52 = 21.76, P < 0.001), bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex ([left] F1,52 = 17.3, P < 0.001; [right]: F1,52 = 14.17, P < 0.001), bilateral subgenual anterior cingulate cortex ([left]: F1,52 = 10.4, P = 0.002; [right]: F1,52 = 12.91, P = 0.001), and right insula (F1,52 = 11.0, P = 0.002). However, there were no significant main effects of condition or ethnicity × condition interaction effects across models, likely attributable to individual variability in the direction of change within groups. BPND values were significantly correlated with pain ratings collected during the capsaicin condition (r range = 0.34-0.46, P range = 0.01-0.001). Results suggest that NHB individuals might have generally greater unoccupied MOR density than non-Hispanic white peers. Findings have implications for physiological differences underlying ethnicity-related pain disparities. If replicated, these results further emphasize the need for tailored treatments in historically underserved populations.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.