Grant: Project Grant

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in big data has the potential to transform medicine and improve clinical care for patients. With access to large healthcare databases such as the UK Biobank, we have developed novel brain-based biomarkers, blood biochemistry markers, and a psychosocial risk score to predict chronic pain conditions and its impact. These markers have various clinical applications, including patient selection for research protocols, randomization in controlled trials, and informed treatment decisions for patients in need of urgent care. However, the lack of diversity in the data used to train these algorithms raises concerns about perpetuating racial and gender disparities in healthcare. Studies have shown that marginalized communities, including women and Black communities, are more likely to experience chronic pain but receive inadequate treatment. This highlights the need to ensure that these new predictive models do not contribute to disparities and inequities in diagnosis and treatment. This proposal aims to address these concerns by evaluating the impact of these markers on underrepresented populations and by providing tools to recognize and test biases in current and future research. The proposed three aims are to identify potential disparities and improve our novel markers for pain by making them more fair. This research has the potential to improve chronic pain management and reduce harm for all patients while promoting equitable healthcare outcomes.