Gender and pain
Stefano Coaccioli
Perugia University School of Medicine, Perugia-Terni, Italy
: J Womens Health, Issues Care
Abstract
There is a wide evidence about-difference in pain perception and treatment in females in comparison with males. In this presentation, complex factors contributing to differences in the pain perception as well as in the analgesic responses between males and females, ranging from psychosocial to biological processes, are illustrated. A huge body of research demonstrates that females experience greater pain; suffer greater pain-related distress compared with males. The factors showing gender differences in the experience of pain are multifactorial and complex. Gonadal hormone levels in cycling women also have a substantial impact on pain perception and analgesic response. Women perceive more pain during the luteal phase, and estrogen antagonists provide long-term pain relief in certain situations. They may conclude that the understanding of the factors that commonly and differentially affect the disparity in pain perception between genders, as well as analgesic response, are beginning to put a light in research targets and promising areas of therapeutic intervention for improved pain management.
Biography
