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Objective. Pain is a subjectively complex and universal experience. We examine research investigating ethnic group differences in experimental pain response and factors contributing to group differences.

Method. We conducted a systematic literature review and analysis of studies using experimental pain stimuli to assess pain sensitivity across multiple ethnic groups. Our search covered the period from 1944 to 2011, and used the PubMed bibliographic database; a reference source containing over 17 million citations. We calculated effect sizes; identified ethnic/racial group categories, pain stimuli, and measures; and examined findings regarding biopsychosociocultural factors contributing to ethnic/racial group differences.

Results. We found 472 studies investigating ethnic group differences and pain. Twenty-six of these met our review inclusion criteria of investigating ethnic group …