Global Study Reveals Women Experience Higher Pain Levels Across All Body Regions

A comprehensive global study published in *Nature Medicine* has mapped physical pain across 118 countries, revealing that women consistently report higher levels of pain than men across all 11 anatomical areas examined. Analyzing self-reported data from over 6.1 million individuals aged 5 to over 100, the research addresses the persistent gender pain gap, highlighting significant disparities in how discomfort is experienced and clinically managed worldwide.

A 2024 International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) report across 17 countries recorded chronic pain prevalence of 45% in women versus 31% in men, identifying gender-related clinical bias as an established barrier.

The findings demonstrate that female-to-male risk ratios vary across the body, with the most pronounced differences appearing in facial pain, headaches, and abdominal pain. Women were found to be 83% more likely to report facial pain, 74% more likely to suffer headaches, and 60% more likely to experience stomach or abdominal discomfort.

Anatomical Disparities and Life-Stage Peaks

The McGill University-led analysis establishes a worldwide reference benchmark for pain across the human lifespan. Rather than confirming the assumption that physical pain increases linearly into old age, the data reveals that pain for most bodily regions increases sharply before age 55, peaks during mid-to-late adulthood, and actually declines in advanced age.

Researchers deployed an open-access benchmarking platform allowing clinical institutions and health systems worldwide to evaluate patient cohorts against standardized global pain reference curves.

Different anatomical sites exhibit distinct developmental trajectories. Abdominal pain peaks early in life around age 23, followed by headaches near age 34. Upper-body joint discomfort in the neck, shoulders, and elbows peaks during midlife between ages 59 and 62 before improving. Conversely, weight-bearing lower-body joints, including the hips, knees, and back, show cumulative degradation, peaking at age 75 or older.

Socioeconomic and Regional Disparities

The global mapping project challenged previous assumptions regarding regional pain distribution. While prior estimates indicated that pain conditions were more prevalent in wealthier nations, the study found that individuals in lower-income countries experience substantially higher levels of bodily pain in later life. Lower back pain rates in economically disadvantaged regions approach nearly double the levels observed in wealthier countries.

In the lowest-HDI nations, low back pain prevalence among older age groups approached nearly double the rate seen in the highest-HDI countries.

Prior global epidemiological models estimated that chronic pain was most prevalent in higher-HDI countries, but the harmonized data found elderly populations in the lowest-HDI nations had a 30.6 percentage point higher pain burden.

Preventable lifestyle factors such as smoking, obesity, and low income account for up to 27% of the pain burden in North America and Europe. In contrast, those same factors account for only about 12% in poorer regions, indicating that unmeasured drivers such as heavy manual labor, infectious diseases, and limited healthcare access heavily influence developing-nation pain burdens.

Impact of Obesity and Clinical Implications

Among specific physical risk factors, obesity was found to land its heaviest burden on weight-bearing extremities, nearly doubling the risk of foot, ankle, and knee pain while exerting a slightly lesser impact on the hips. Globally, back pain remains the most prevalent complaint, affecting approximately 40% of the population, while facial pain is the least common at around 2%.

The researchers emphasize that the findings expose systemic flaws in healthcare delivery, noting that women frequently encounter diagnostic delays, dismissal of symptoms as emotional, and inadequate pain relief prescriptions. The study provides quantitative backing for clinicians to reevaluate default treatment assumptions and address gender disparities in pain management.

Interpreting the reported sex difference in pain

Comparing average pain reports across populations can identify an important public-health pattern, but averages do not predict the experience of every woman or man. Sampling, age distribution, chronic conditions and the wording of pain questions all influence results. A finding that women report greater pain across body regions should not be read as evidence of a single biological cause. For healthcare services, the actionable issue is consistent pain assessment and equitable treatment, while researchers examine which social, clinical and biological factors explain the observed differences.