Perceived racial discrimination, but not mistrust of medical researchers, predicts the heat pain tolerance of African Americans with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis.

Objective: Studies have shown that perceived racial discrimination is a significant predictor of clinical pain severity among African Americans. It remains unknown whether perceived racial discrimination also alters the nociceptive processing of painful stimuli, which, in turn, could influence clinical pain severity. This study examined associations between perceived racial discrimination and responses to noxious thermal stimuli among African Americans and non-Hispanic Whites.