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•Racism in pain research manifests in the scientific approaches and dissemination of findings.•Racism has also limited the people who are provided the opportunity to become pain scientists.•Equality in pain research must be applied equallyfor equity in pain prevention and treatment.•Shifting the scientific consciousness of researchers and the public takes courageous dialogue.•Justice compels recognition of chronic pain as a national health disparity issue.

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a leading source of pain and disability among older adults. Self‐management (SM) strategies are recommended to manage OA symptoms. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, along with other factors, may influence SM utilization rate. This study sought to examine the prevalence and correlates of SM use for pain among non‐Hispanic Black patients (NHB) and non‐Hispanic White patients (NHW) older adults with or at risk for knee OA. A secondary data analysis was conducted on the Understanding Pain and Limitations in Osteoarthritic Disease multisite observational study, which included NHB (n = 104) and NHW (n = 98) community‐dwelling older adults with or at risk for knee OA. Participants completed measures of sociodemographics, pain SM use, coping, and clinical and experimental pain. Clinical and experimental pain were significantly greater among NHBs compared to NHWs. There were no significant differences in use of total SM by ethnicity/race. Interestingly, multiple linear regression revealed that clinical and experimental pain indices, as well as coping, number of pain sites, age, and sex were differentially associated with total SM use between NHBs and NHWs. There were significant ethnicity/race by type of pain management interaction effects for pain measures. SM is common among older adults with or at risk for knee OA pain, and the prevalence of SM does not differ by ethnicity/race, but many guideline‐recommended interventions for OA are underutilized. Importantly, different factors were associated with the use of SM, highlighting distinct biopsychosocial mechanisms contributing to SM use in NHBs and NHWs.

•Compared with controls, about twice as many adults with SCD showed sensitization.•Of those with sensitization, more than half exhibited some central sensitization.•Sensitization was associated with frequent pain crisis episodes among SCD patients.•Persistent allodynia and hyperalgesia can be part of the SCD pain experience.•Neuropathic pain, if part of SCD pain, should be appropriately assessed and treated.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a hereditary blood disorder characterized by intense acute and chronic pain episodes, resulting in a complex interplay of negative physical and emotional experiences. One of the main barriers to addressing pain in this disease state is the limited information about the mechanisms affecting the variable degree and types of pain and stress that impact patients in this population. The arginine vasopressin receptor1a gene (AVPR1A) single nucleotide polymorphism (rs10877969) is associated with aspects of acute pain and stress related pain in patients living with SCD. Arginine vasopressin (AVP) is a hormone known for its role in regulating extracellular fluid, vasoconstriction, and the endocrine stress response. However, due to its short half-life, AVP is difficult to measure. Thus, copeptin, the stable biologically inactive C-terminal portion of pro-vasopressin, is often used as a surrogate marker for AVP secretion. Copeptin is a marker of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activation, however, its levels have not been studied in patients living with SCD. Psychological stress has been associated with changes in circulating copeptin concentrations. Considering the relationship between pain, stress, and copeptin, it is important to investigate their relationship in the context of SCD. The primary objective of this study was to examine serum copeptin levels with reports of perceived stress and pain in this patient population.

Purpose Our specific aim was to develop and assess the consensus-based validity of common measures for understanding health behaviors and ancestry in Florida’s population subgroups and establish the feasibility of wide-scale implementation of the measures and biospecimen collection within three cancer centers’ catchment areas.Methods Using the National Cancer Institute’s Grid-Enabled Measures web-based platform and an iterative process, we developed the Florida Health and Ancestry Survey (FHAS). We then used three sampling approaches to implement the FHAS: community-engaged, panel respondent, and random digit dialing (RDD). We asked a subset of participants to provide a saliva sample for future validation of subjective ancestry report with DNA-derived ancestry markers.Results This process supported the FHAS content validity. As an indicator of feasibility, the goals for completed surveys by sampling approach were met for two of the three cancer centers, yielding a total of 1438 completed surveys. The RDD approach produced the most representative sample. The panel sampling approach produced inadequate representation of older individuals and males. The community-engaged approach along with social media recruitment produced extreme underrepresentation only for males. Two of the cancer centers mailed biospecimen kits, whereas one did not due to resource constraints. On average, the community engaged approach was more productive in obtaining returned biospecimen samples (80%) than the panel approach (48%).Conclusions We successfully developed and implemented the FHAS as a common measure to show its feasibility for understanding cancer health disparities in Florida. We identified sampling approach successes and challenges to obtaining biospecimens for ancestry research.

Pain catastrophizing contributes to heightened levels of pain and disability. Previous evidence demonstrates that non-Hispanic Blacks (NHB) report higher levels of both pain and catastrophizing than non-Hispanic whites (NHW). The current study investigates whether pain catastrophizing mediates the relationship between ethnicity/race and pain, disability and physical function in individuals with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Furthermore, this study examined whether catastrophizing predicts pain and disability at 2-year follow-up. Participants included 187 (96 NHB, 91 NHW) community-dwelling adults with unilateral or bilateral knee pain who screened positive for knee OA. Participants completed several measures at baseline and 2-year follow-up including the Coping Strategies Questionnaire-Revised Pain Catastrophizing subscale, Short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index, Graded Chronic Pain Scale, and Short Physical Performance Battery. NHBs reported greater pain severity, higher levels of disability, and poorer functional performance compared to their NHW counterparts (ps<.05). NHBs also reported greater catastrophizing (M=1.7, SD=1.3) compared to NHWs (M=0.9, SD=1.1) and catastrophizing was significantly correlated with pain-related outcomes across both ethnic/race groups. Mediation analyses revealed that catastrophizing mediated the relationship between ethnicity/race and pain outcome measures. Specifically, NHB individuals reported experiencing significantly more pain, greater disability, and exhibited lower levels of physical function, compared to NHW, and these differences were mediated by higher levels of catastrophizing among NHBs. Pain catastrophizing did not mediate the association of ethnicity/race with pain intensity nor interference over the 2-year follow-up period. However, interestingly, pain catastrophizing significantly predicted pain and pain-related disability over the ensuing two years, even after adjusting for baseline pain and interference. These results point to the need for interventions that target pain catastrophizing in order to reduce pain and pain-related outcomes in individuals with knee osteoarthritis. Research funding and support provided by NIH/NIA Grants R37AG033906 (RBF) and R01AG054370 (KTS); UF CTSA Grant UL1TR001427 and UAB CTSA Grant UL1TR001417 from the NIH Center for Advancing Translational Sciences; NIH/NINDS K22NS102334, and McKnight Brain Institute Career Development Award (ELT); minority supplement provided to the University of Florida (JSC); NIH/NIAMS K23AR076463-01 (SQB); NIH/NIA Grant R00AG052642 (EJB).

•Chronic musculoskeletal pain unequally burdens underrepresented ethnic/race groups.•The NIA Health Disparities Research Frameworkprovides a framework to review research efforts.•Four levels of analyses were searched specific to chronic musculoskeletal pain.•Research is limited across all levels of analysis particularly sociocultural and biological.•Study designs including a focus on protective factors and multiple levels of analyses are needed.

•Pain catastrophizing mediated ethnic/race group differences in pain-related outcomes.•Catastrophizing predicted pain and interference across both ethnic/racial groups 2 years later.•Pain catastrophizing appear important in efforts to reduce ethnic/race group disparities in pain.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Aim: The Adult Sickle Cell Quality of life Measure (ASCQ-Me) is a relatively new tool with increasing frequency of use, but no published reports of its long-term stability. The aim of this study was to examine reliability of ASCQ-Me in a sample of adults with sickle cell disease (SCD). Evidence of reliability of this new tool is important for credible use in longitudinal studies of SCD, especially those with interventions intended to improve quality of life (QOL) for patients with SCD.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Background:Pain in sickle cell disease (SCD) has been thought to be episodic, but more recent evidence has shown that individuals in this population also suffer from chronic pain likely resulting from central or peripheral neural damage (neuropathic pain). There is accumulating evidence from human and animal studies indicating potential neuropathic pain in SCD. A number of valid and reliable measures of neuropathic pain have been used to differentiate neuropathic from non-neuropathic types of pain. PAINReportIt, which takes about 10 to 18 minutes to complete, is a computer based self-report pain assessment tool based on the 1970 version of the McGill Pain Questionnaire. From PAINReportIt, a new subscale has been proposed as a measure of neuropathic pain that sums the number of neuropathic pain quality words selected. The PAINReportItnumber of neuropathic pain (PR-NNP) scale, however, lacks validation in patients with SCD.