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Identifying the Presence of Ethics Concepts in Chronic Pain Research: A Scoping Review of Neuroscience Journals

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Abstract

Background

Chronic pain is a pervasive and invisible condition which affects people in a myriad of ways including but not limited to their quality of life, autonomy, mental and physical health, social mobility, and productivity. There are many ethical implications of neuroscience research on chronic pain, given its potential to reduce suffering and improve the lived experience of people in pain. While a growing body of research studies the etiology, neurophysiology, and management of chronic pain, it is unknown to what degree neuroscience research in this area engages with relevant ethics concepts.

Aim

To explore the presence of ethics concepts in empirical chronic pain neuroscience literature to advance knowledge regarding the ethics of chronic pain management.

Methods

We conducted a hybrid bibliometric analysis and scoping review of chronic pain neuroscience articles published between 1999 and 2021 to identify the presence of ethics concepts. We selected articles from the top, middle, and bottom 20 neuroscience journals ranked by Impact Factor. We conducted a database search of Web of Science and a hand-search using PubMed, Google Scholar, and the reference lists of included articles.

Findings

Our database search yielded 2779 results from which 46 articles met inclusion criteria. An additional 13 articles were hand-retrieved using PubMed and Google Scholar in accordance with the inclusion criteria, totaling 59 articles. We identified four main ethics themes in our analysis: 1) Quality of Life (n = 46), 2) Autonomy (n = 5), 3) Transparency (n = 4), and 4) Beneficence and Non-Maleficence (n = 4).

Conclusion

Most neuroscience papers do not include a discussion of ethics related to chronic pain conditions. Those that do tend to merely state rather than define or contextualize a particular ethics concept. Given the potential ethical implications of neuroscience research for people living with chronic pain, we argue that to maximize its public health benefit, neuroscience researchers should consider the ethical relevance of their work within their scientific publications. This may generate further ethical reflection within the field, to improve pain management.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for Dr Karen Davis for helpful discussions relating to the topic area, as well as the feedback from Sandra Woods on an earlier version of this manuscript. The group discussions at the CIHR-funded workshop entitled The Ethics of Pain Research, Management, and Policy: A Planning and Knowledge Exchange Meeting (Toronto, 2018) provided the inspiration for this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Arts, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Rajita Sharma

  2. Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Samuel A. Dale, Sapna Wadhawan & Daniel Z. Buchman

  3. University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, Toronto, Canada

    Samuel A. Dale & Daniel Z. Buchman

  4. University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Melanie Anderson

  5. Bioethics Department, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Daniel Z. Buchman

  6. Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Daniel Z. Buchman

  7. Everyday Ethics Lab, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 1025 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON, M6J 1H1, Canada

    Daniel Z. Buchman

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  1. Rajita Sharma
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Correspondence to Daniel Z. Buchman.

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This paper was supported by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research CIHR-PCS 161829. The authors report no conflicts of interest.

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Sharma, R., Dale, S.A., Wadhawan, S. et al. Identifying the Presence of Ethics Concepts in Chronic Pain Research: A Scoping Review of Neuroscience Journals. Neuroethics 15, 21 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12152-022-09499-7

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