Women suffer more pain than men, says study
What's the story
A major global study has found that women experience more pain than men across their bodies. The research, published in Nature Medicine, analyzed data from over six million people in 118 countries between 1990 and 2025. It looked at different types of pain and their prevalence among genders throughout life. The findings also highlight the need to address the gender pain gap in healthcare systems worldwide.
Pain distribution
Gender differences in pain perception
The study found that women's self-reported pain was higher than men's across 11 bodily sites.
These included the head, face, neck or shoulder, foot or ankle, hand or wrist, elbow, chest, back, stomach or abdomen, hip and knee.
The difference was especially pronounced for headache, facial and abdominal pain.
This highlights a potential bias in how pain is perceived and treated based on gender.
Age factor
Age-related pain trends
The research also found that the steepest increase in pain for both men and women occurred before they turned 55. After that, it peaked at or beyond 75 years.
Back, hip and knee pain increased across the lifespan, indicating a significant portion of lifetime pain burden develops during working-age adulthood.
This could have implications for how we approach pain management strategies across different age groups.
Pain peaks
Distinction between high-intensity and generalized pains
The study found that high-intensity pain peaked around 50 while generalized pain peaked around 70. The authors wrote, "Although the likelihood of experiencing any pain rises steadily with age, the most disabling forms of pain followed an inverted-U trajectory, peaking in mid-to-late adulthood before declining."
Research limitations
Limitations of the study
The authors noted important limitations in their research that could affect interpretations but don't change overall patterns.
These include different pain measurement methods, uneven coverage across regions and age groups, and describing patterns for specific age groups instead of tracking individuals over time.
They stressed the need to focus on self-reported pain rates as a basis for more equitable monitoring and prevention efforts in healthcare systems worldwide.