The Effect of Pain Catastrophizing on Endogenous Inhibition of Pain and Spinal Nociception in Native Americans: Results From the Oklahoma Study of Native American Pain Risk

Overview

Journal Ann Behav Med

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialty Social Sciences

Date 2020 Feb 20

PMID 32073117

Citations 10

Authors

Tyler A Toledo

Bethany L Kuhn

Michael F Payne

Edward W Lannon

Shreela Palit

Cassandra A Sturycz

Natalie Hellman

Yvette M Guereca

Mara J Demuth

Felicitas Huber

Joanna O Shadlow

Jamie L Rhudy

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Conditioned pain modulation (CPM) is a task that involves measuring pain in response to a test stimulus before and during a painful conditioning stimulus (CS). The CS pain typically inhibits pain elicited by the test stimulus; thus, this task is used to assess endogenous pain inhibition. Moreover, less efficient CPM-related inhibition is associated with chronic pain risk. Pain catastrophizing is a cognitive-emotional process associated with negative pain sequelae, and some studies have found that catastrophizing reduces CPM efficiency.

Purpose: The current study examined the relationship between catastrophizing (dispositional and situation specific) and CPM-related inhibition of pain and the nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR; a marker of spinal nociception) to determine whether the catastrophizing-CPM relationship might contribute to the higher risk of chronic pain in Native Americans (NAs).

Methods: CPM of pain and NFR was assessed in 124 NAs and 129 non-Hispanic Whites. Dispositional catastrophizing was assessed at the beginning of the test day, whereas situation-specific catastrophizing was assessed in response to the CS, as well as painful electric stimuli.

Results: Situation-specific, but not dispositional, catastrophizing led to less NFR inhibition but more pain inhibition. These effects were not moderated by race, but mediation analyses found that: (a) the NA race was associated with greater situation-specific catastrophizing, which led to less NFR inhibition and more pain inhibition, and (b) situation-specific catastrophizing was associated with greater CS pain, which led to more pain inhibition.

Conclusions: Catastrophizing may contribute to NA pain risk by disrupting descending inhibition.

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