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Introduction: Previous research indicates ethnic/race group differences in pain and neurodegenerative diseases. Accounting for socioenvironmental factors reduces ethnic/race group differences in clinical and experimental pain. In the current study sample, we previously reported that in individuals with knee pain, ethnic/race group differences were observed in bilateral temporal lobe thickness, areas of the brain associated with risk for Alzheimer's disease, and related dementias. The purpose of the study was to determine if socioenvironmental factors reduce or account for previously observed ethnic/race group differences and explore if a combined effect of socioenvironmental risk and chronic pain severity on temporal lobe cortices is evident. Methods: Consistent with the prior study, the sample was comprised of 147 adults (95 women, 52 men), 45–85 years of age, who self‐identified as non‐Hispanic Black (n = 72) and non‐Hispanic White (n = 75), with knee pain with/at risk for osteoarthritis. Measures included demographics, health history, pain questionnaires, cognitive screening, body mass index, individual‐ and community‐level socioenvironmental factors (education, income, household size, marital and insurance status, and area deprivation index), and brain imaging. We computed a summative socioenvironmental risk index. Results: Regression analyses showed that with the inclusion of socioenvironmental factors, the model was significant (p <.001), and sociodemographic (ethnic/race) group differences were not significant (p =.118). Additionally, findings revealed an additive stress load pattern indicating thinner temporal lobe cortices with greater socioenvironmental risk and chronic pain severity (p =.048). Implications: Although individual socioenvironmental factors were not independent predictors, when collectively combined in models, ethnic/race group differences in bilateral temporal lobe structures were not replicated. Further, combined socioenvironmental risk factors and higher chronic pain severity were associated with thinner bilateral temporal lobes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Non-Hispanic black (NHB) individuals have increased risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) relative to non-Hispanic whites (NHW). Ethnicity/race can serve as a proxy sociodemographic variable for a complex representation of sociocultural and environmental factors. Chronic pain is a form of stress with high prevalence and sociodemographic disparities. Chronic pain is linked to lower cognition and accelerated biological aging.Objective: The purpose of this study is to seek understanding of potential cognitive and temporal lobe structural brain AD vulnerabilities based on chronic pain stage and ethnicity/race.Methods: Participants included 147 community dwelling NHB and NHW adults without dementia between 45-85 years old who had or were at risk of knee osteoarthritis. All participants received an MRI (3T Philips), the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and assessment of clinical knee pain stage.Results: There were ethnic/race group differences in MoCA scores but no relationships with chronic knee pain stage. Ethnicity/race moderated the relationship between AD-related temporal lobe thickness and chronic pain stage with quadratic patterns suggesting thinner cortex in high chronic pain stage NHB adults.Conclusion: There appear to be complex relationships between chronic knee pain stage, temporal lobe cortex, and sociodemographic variables. Specifically, NHB participants without dementia but with high chronic knee pain stage appeared to have thinner temporal cortex in areas associated with AD. Understanding the effects of sociocultural and socioeconomic factors on health outcomes is the first step to challenging the disparities in healthcare that now appear to link disease conditions to neurodegenerative processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]