Various words are used to describe pain, but there is no way to know if what one person experiences as pain differs from another’s.
In the largest study of its kind, Stanford researchers analyzed electronic medical records from Stanford Hospital and Clinic for ratings of pain for more than 72,000 patients, and found that women tend to report larger amounts of pain. The results will be published in the Journal of Pain.
The greatest differences were found in patients with circulatory, musculoskeletal, respiratory and digestive system disorders. On average, women reported experiencing pain one point higher than men on an 11-point scale.
There are a number of possible explanations for the findings, including hormones, genetics or psychological factors.
“A lot of times cognitive, emotional and behavioral factors really influence the level and someone’s experience with pain,” said Dr. Irene Wu, assistant clinical professor of anesthesiology at UCLA Medical Center, who was not involved with the study. Women's stress may also make pain seem worse.
Scientists are also looking at what happens in the brain when men and women experience pain, to see if there is a biological basis for their differing perceptions.
Further research is needed to have a better understanding of what underlies the apparent sex difference in the experience of pain.
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