Key findings

• Women are less likely than men to receive adequate pain treatment

• Women are less likely to receive painkillers than men, even if their symptoms are the same

• Nurses tend to underestimate women’s pain

TUESDAY, Aug. 13, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Female patients are consistently less likely to receive painkillers than men for similar complaints, a new study finds.

An analysis of more than 21,000 patient records found that women of all ages are less likely to be prescribed painkillers than men, even when they suffer from similar complaints, researchers recently reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A follow-up experiment inspired by these findings found that nurses in particular tend to overlook women’s pain.

“Our research reveals a disturbing bias in the way women’s pain is perceived and treated in emergency care,” said researcher Shoham Choshen-Hillel, a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

“This undertreatment of pain in female patients could have serious consequences for their health, potentially leading to longer recovery times, complications or chronic pain conditions,” Choshen-Hillel added in a university press release.

For the experiment, more than 100 nurses were asked to rate patients’ pain using clinical vignettes.

For female patients, nurses tended to rate pain intensity, suggesting that gender stereotypes underlie this bias, according to the researchers.

In addition, nurses recorded pain scores in female patients ten percent less often than in male patients, which could lead to inadequate treatment, the researchers said.

In addition, female patients spend an average of half an hour longer in the emergency room than men, the researchers found. This could be because their pain or symptoms are taken less seriously, the team speculated.

More information

The Cleveland Clinic offers more information on pain management.

SOURCE: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, press release, August 9, 2024

What this means for you

Women should be aware that medical staff may not fully understand their pain and be prepared to advocate for their own needs as patients.