Kell PA, Hellman N, Huber FA, et al. - Given the correlation of adverse life events (ALEs) with the risk of chronic, researchers sought to determine if cumulative ALE exposure impairs endogenous inhibition of pain (assessed from pain report) and spinal nociception (assessed from nociceptive flexion reflex; NFR) in healthy, pain-free Native Americans (n = 124) and non-Hispanic Whites (n = 129) during a conditioned pain modulation (CPM) task. Findings support that there is correlation between ALEs and impaired descending inhibition of spinal nociception. Low exposure to ALEs was linked with NFR inhibition, whereas high exposure to ALEs was linked with NFR facilitation. By contrast, there was inhibition of pain perception during the CPM task regardless of the level of ALE exposure. Ethnicity did not moderate the effect of ALEs.