EFIC Congress: Pain and gender: Women and men suffer differently

(openPR) Pain in Europe VII – 7th EFIC Congress, 21 - 24 September 2011, Hamburg

Women and men do not only differ in pain thresholds and their experience of pain. They also respond to treatment differently. At the 7th ECIF Congress in Hamburg, experts called for the end of unisex medicine.

Hamburg, 21 September 2011 -- “Women tend to lament about their pain. They feel aches for a shorter time, but more intensely than men,” Dr. Oras A. Alabas (Leeds, UK) told the 7th EFIC Congress – Pain in Europe VII. More than 4,000 experts from all over the world are currently gathered in Hamburg to discuss the latest developments in pain research and therapy.

Men do not complain

Dr. Alabas and her team investigated the relationship between sex-related stereotypic attributions of pain and experimentally-induced ischemic and mechanical pain in 51 healthy participants. Measuring “gender role expectations of pain,” they detected a higher score for women compared to men in pain sensitivity and willingness to report pain, but a lower score for women in pain endurance. This led to the conclusion that women in many parts of the world complain more about pain and are more sensitive to pain than men. “One of the main reasons for such differences is the impact of gender roles on pain responses which are universal in nature,” underlined Dr. Alabas.

Women tormented by fear, men helped by active coping: No unisex medicine

New data with respect to gender and pain was also presented in Hamburg by a Spanish research group, who wanted to know if men and women adjust to chronic pain in different ways. The researchers examined 190 male and 210 female chronic spine pain patients attending primary care units. Dr. Carmen Ramírez Maestre, (Malaga, E) explained the EFIC Congress that “we found significant differences between men and women in pain intensity, fear-avoidance beliefs, passive and active coping, current functioning and functional impairment.” The team also found gender differences in the factors that predicted adjustment to pain. “Fear of pain played a significant role in predicting mood in women, whereas active coping was associated with better mood and lower pain intensity in men. Pain acceptance was associated with better current functioning in men, whereas resilience was a better predictor of this in women,” Dr. Ramírez Maestre reported. “Why ignore the obvious and remain in unisex medicine? We need adjusted treatments for women and men,” she said.

Hope to be a better housewife or spouse

“Getting well soon,” of course, is the usual hope when looking for pain treatment. Pre-treatment expectations are an important issue in the therapy of patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain, because patients' expectations can be a factor in helping to predict the outcome in chronic pain treatment. As part of her quest for more details, Dr. Anne Boonstra (Beetsterzwaag NL) asked if men and women look forward to different things. Her research group analysed more than 600 patients suffering from chronic musculoskeletal pain, sending them a questionnaire with a list of 25 possible expectations. Men and women have many (21 from 25) expectations in common, the survey showed. Small differences were found in three expectations – some strongly connected with stereotypic role models: “Male patients were more likely to expect that the treatment would enable them to cope better with being a spouse, and that the cause of their pain would be found. Female patients were more likely to expect that the treatment would enable them to better accept the fact that



they can no longer do what they were able to do in the past,” Dr. Boonstra told the EFIC Congress. Needless to say, the one expectation for which a clinically important difference was found was that female patients were more likely than male patients to expect that they would have fewer problems with household activities.

Pain in pregnancy can lead to complications

Dr. Helga Maria Schuckall (Salzburg, A) challenged the wide-spread prejudice assuming pain to be normal during pregnancy which is a physiological process and not at all a disease. Dr. Schuckall also wanted to find out, how many pregnant women in fact suffer from pain that should be treated. As the prospective case study of her research team showed, only 18.6 % do not suffer from pain during pregnancy. Another 38% have medium or moderate pain, but almost 6% of pregnant women are sometimes tormented by severe pain. “A longer lasting pain experience can lead to complications in pregnancy and prolonged labour,” Dr. Schuckall reported in Hamburg. “Pregnant women may face the dilemma of suffering pain or taking pain relievers that could have safety implications for their babies. A regular evaluation of pain during pregnancy is of major importance for determining medically indicated pain reducing interventions in order to prevent pregnancy complications as well as chronification of pain after delivery,” she concluded.


About EFIC and "Pain in Europe" - The European Federation of IASP® chapters (EFIC®) is a multidisciplinary professional organisation in the field of pain research and medicine, consisting of the 35 so-called chapters of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP®), which are the IASP approved official National Pain Societies in each country. Established in 1993, EFIC’s constituent chapters represent Pain Societies from 35 European countries and close to 20,000 physicians, basic researchers, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists and other healthcare professionals across Europe, who are involved in pain management and pain research. EFIC’s aims are to advance research, education, clinical management and professional practice related to pain, and to serve as an authoritative, scientifically based resource concerning policy issues related to pain and its management. “Pain in Europe VII” in Hamburg (21-24 September 2011) is the 7th EFIC Congress since 1995. EFIC Congresses have become a popular forum in Europe attracting over 4,000 participants in 2011. Congress participants are mainly from Europe, but with delegates from more than 75 countries worldwide, the Congress can be considered the major international educational exchange on pain issues of this year 2011.


Source: EFIC Abstracts S288 DO MEN AND WOMEN ADJUST TO CHRONIC PAIN IN DIFFERENT WAYS?; S289 DO MALE AND FEMALE PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC MUSCULOSKELETAL PAIN DIFFER IN THEIR PRE-TREATMENT EXPECTATIONS OF REHABILITATION OUTCOME?; S520 INVESTIGATION OF 478 PREGNANT WOMEN IN REGARD TO PAIN EXPERIENCE