Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41524317›Full record

ArticleNorth Carolina medical journal2025

Racial/Ethnic and Sex Differences in Coping Mechanisms and Barriers to Health Care Among Adults with Chronic Pain: North Carolina, 2018-2019.

Katherine Gora Combs, Anna E Austin, Kristin Y Shiue, Scott Proescholdbell, Mary E Cox, Rebecca B Naumann

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Article in North Carolina medical journal, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Katherine Gora CombsDepartment of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Anna E AustinDepartment of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Kristin Y ShiueDepartment of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Scott ProescholdbellInjury and Violence Prevention Branch, Division of Public Health, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Mary E CoxInjury and Violence Prevention Branch, Division of Public Health, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Rebecca B NaumannDepartment of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Funding

NCIPC CDC HHS NU17CE925024
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIndividuals with chronic pain often turn to the health care system for treatment and pain management strategies, but barriers to health care access can make this difficult.

methodsWe analyzed data from the 2018 and 2019 North Carolina Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (NC BRFSS) surveys to understand whether coping mechanisms for chronic pain differed by specific health care barriers, sex, and race/ethnicity. We assessed 4 health care barriers: coverage barrier (no health insurance), provider barrier (no personal doctor/provider), cost barrier (not seeing a doctor in the past year due to cost), and checkup barrier (no checkup in the past 2 years).

resultsCompared to individuals with no health care barriers, individuals with any health care barrier used coping mechanisms tied to the health care system (e.g., prescription drugs and non-medication pain therapies) less frequently. Differences were also observed by sex and race/ethnicity. Among individuals with or without barriers, men reported using alcohol and marijuana or other street drugs to cope more frequently than women, while women used prescription medications more frequently than men. Among individuals with at least one barrier, Black, non-Hispanic individuals reported using prescription drugs and non-medication pain therapies less frequently than White, non-Hispanic individuals. LIMITATIONS: The response rate for the NC BRFSS surveys was low, though adjusted for by weighting. We were limited by the available categories for coping mechanisms, and we restricted race/ethnicity analyses to White, non-Hispanic and Black, non-Hispanic individuals.

conclusionsOur findings indicate that differences in the use of prescription and non-prescription pain therapies by race/ethnicity for individuals with chronic pain may also be interconnected with health care access barriers.

Indexed as

Adaptation, PsychologicalChronic PainHealthcare DisparitiesHealth Services AccessibilityRacial GroupsAdultAgedBehavioral Risk Factor Surveillance SystemFemaleHumansInsurance CoverageMaleMiddle AgedNorth CarolinaSex FactorsYoung Adultbehavioral risk factorschronic paincoping mechanismshealth carehealth care barriersKatherine Gora CombsNorth Carolinaoriginal researchpain therapyUNC

Identifiers

PMID41524317
PMCPMC13368084

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