Pain Tolerance May
Depend on Your Skin Color

(HealthScout) -- How much pain you feel may depend on the color of your skin.

At least that's what new research from the University of Alabama, Birmingham says.

Researchers report that during their study, blacks reported experiencing higher levels of pain that interfered more with their lives than whites did. And in a physical test of pain, blacks were more sensitive to the pain than whites were.

"African-Americans showed substantially lower tolerance to pain," says study author Robert Edwards, a graduate student in medical psychology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

One in four Americans suffers some type of pain daily, reports a Gallup Survey sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation.

Edwards and his colleagues studied 337 patients with chronic pain. Sixty-eight of them were black. The pain was caused by various factors, including lower back pain, headaches, neck pain and shoulder pain.

Each person took a battery of tests so researchers could assess how each individual perceived pain, and what effect the pain was having on their lives. Blacks reported slightly more perceived pain than whites did, but had similar levels of emotional distress because of that pain.

The researchers also performed a standardized pain-tolerance test that temporarily restricted blood flow to the individual's arm. Patients were then asked to perform tasks with that arm while the test was in progress.

Blacks stopped the pain-tolerance test an average of four minutes sooner than whites did, researchers found.

Edwards says he can't account for the differences, but he suspects there may be different physiological responses to pain based on ethnicity. He says there also might be cultural differences that could make one group more likely to report pain than another.

But there isn't enough information from this study to suggest any changes for the way doctors manage patient pain, Edwards notes.

The study appears in the March/April issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.

Asked about the findings, Dr. Grigory Kizelshteyn, an associate professor of anesthesiology at New York Medical College, says the study has limitations. For example, because all of these patients had different kinds of pain and different treatments, it's difficult to compare them.

Kizelshteyn says he does believe there are genetic differences in the way people perceive pain, but it's not as simple as whether you're black or white.

"You have to tailor every pain-management program to the specific patient," says Kizelshteyn.

If you have chronic pain, talk with your doctor about the best way to treat it.

The patient information section at the American Pain Foundation has a list of most causes of pain. Choose what's bothering you from the list, and an article explaining the disorder and treatment options will come up.

To learn more about how to discuss your pain with your doctor, go to the Arthritis Foundation's Speaking of Pain page, and complete the online form to receive their free brochure.

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