Skip to main content

Consistent Sex Disparity Seen in Pain Management

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Aug 14, 2024.

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Aug. 13, 2024 -- A consistent sex disparity is seen in pain management, with women less likely to be prescribed pain-related medications than men, according to a study published online Aug. 5 in PNAS.

Mika Guzikevits, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and colleagues examined a potential sex bias in pain management using data from two emergency department datasets from two countries, for 21,851 patients arriving with pain complaints.

The researchers found that a consistent sex disparity emerged across these datasets. Compared with men, female patients were less likely to be prescribed pain-relief medications. Even after adjustment for patients' reported pain scores and patient, physician, and emergency department variables, this disparity persisted. The disparity extended across medical practitioners, with fewer pain-relief medications prescribed to women than men by both male and female physicians. In additional analyses, female patients' pain scores were 10 percent less likely to be recorded by nurses, and compared with men, female patients spent an additional 30 minutes in the emergency department. The hypothesis was reinforced in a controlled experiment employing clinical vignettes, showing that 109 nurses judged pain of female patients to be less than that of male patients.

"The findings join mounting evidence of discrimination against females in the medical system and in other areas," the authors write. "Undertreatment of females' pain bears immediate implications for the health care system and broad implications for society's attitude toward female pain."

Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted August 2024

Read this next

Low Alcohol Use Disorder Treatment Rates Seen in Cancer Survivors

THURSDAY, May 29, 2025 -- For U.S. adult cancer survivors with a new alcohol use disorder (AUD) diagnosis, the one-year cumulative incidence of AUD treatment initiation was 14.3...

Total Number of Excess Deaths >14.7 Million in U.S. in 1980 to 2023

THURSDAY, May 29, 2025 -- There were 14,735,913 excess deaths in the United States during 1980 to 2023 compared with other high-income countries (HICs), according to a research...

Earlier Natural Menopause Risk Increased for Women in Socially Vulnerable Neighborhoods

THURSDAY, May 29, 2025 -- Women residing in U.S. neighborhoods with high social vulnerability have a higher risk for earlier natural menopause, according to a study published...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.