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Researchers Reveal Racial Disparities in Pain Management

By Lindsay F. Wiley [Bio]

March 21, 2003 - New research from the University of Michigan suggests that African-Americans are less likely to get adequate treatment for pain than whites. The two studies were presented Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Pain Society in Chicago.

In one study, researchers surveyed 136 white and 101 African-American patients with chronic pain and found that there were differences in rates of referral for specialized treatment and that African American respondents believed their ethnicity affected their access to pain management. Dr. Carmen Green, the lead researcher noted that although all of the patients surveyed had access to a pain management center, African-American respondents felt they had waited longer to be referred and that their physicians did not recommend referral as often. The study also found that African-Americans who carry health insurance have less access to pain medications.

In a related study, researchers found that black women suffer from higher levels of pain, depression, disability and post-traumatic stress illnesses than white women. Researchers studied the responses of 3,132 white women and 345 black women to standardized questionnaires about how pain affected their health and emotional well-being.