Biobehavioral Approaches to Pain in Urban and Rural Populations

Chronic pain and its consequences are unequally distributed across rural and urban populations. The disparities across rural and urban populations arise from factors such as geographic isolation, poverty, higher rates of health risk behaviors, toxic exposures, and limited access to healthcare. The standard of care for pain includes multidisciplinary biobehavioral approaches that are frequently centered in large academic healthcare systems. However, these resources may be out of reach for underserved rural and urban populations. A dynamic, multidisciplinary symposium on biobehavioral approaches to pain was conducted to advance pain science and foster collaborations that address disparities in pain across urban and rural populations. Utilizing the National Institutes of Health Symptom Science Model as the framework, presentations on cutting-edge biologic mechanisms, dynamic implementation strategies, innovations in clinical trials, and novel approaches in precision science were presented and explored. This Research Topic serves as a platform for continuing this conversation on advancing biobehavioral approaches to pain that can improve outcomes across rural and urban populations. This research topic welcomes manuscript submissions that aim to showcase original research, literature reviews, perspectives, data report, commentaries, or editorials. Topic editors: Janet H. Van Cleave, Taichi Goto, Jennifer Kawi Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/75007/biobehavioral-approaches-to-pain-in-urban-and-rural-populations