International Women’s Day (IWD) is recognised worldwide on March 8th, 2023. The aim of IWD is to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women, as well as a call to action for gender equality. The 2023 theme is: #EmbraceEquity.
The pain field has generated a lot of scientific evidence that chronic pain is more prevalent in women than men. Women are at greater risk for common chronic pain conditions, including migraine, osteoarthritis, low back pain, widespread pain, irritable bowel syndrome, and painful diabetic neuropathy. Healthcare utilization is also higher among women. The causes of the higher pain prevalence are multifactorial – including genetic factors, molecular and cellular differences (for example, the effect of sex hormones on neuronal function), circuit-level vulnerability, and psychosocial factors (such as gender stereotypes, socially learned gender roles and associated beliefs and expectations, and cognitive and behavioural factors). An overlooked factor is how researchers measures pain across men and woman. Pain assessment procedures can vary, and this can influence how men and women report their pain. On a wider level, research is needed to examine extent to which sex and gender biases occur in scientific studies and develop strategies on how to reduce them. Unfortunately, a paucity of literature is available on pain among those identifying as nonbinary, transgender, and/or gender-fluid, which is a priority for future research.
Please see recent articles in the European Journal of Pain on this below:
- Association between night pain and quality of life in women: A general population sleep study
- Convergent validity of the central sensitization inventory in women with fibromyalgia: Association with clinical, psychological and psychophysical outcomes
- The association between exposure to domestic abuse in women and the development of syndromes indicating central nervous system sensitization: A retrospective cohort study using UK primary care records
- Widespread myofascial dysfunction and sensitisation in women with endometriosis-associated chronic pelvic pain: A cross-sectional study
- Psychosocial factors associated with pain and sexual function in women with Vulvodynia: A systematic review
- Pelvic floor muscle training for women with lumbopelvic pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis
- The effect of high versus low cognitive load on the development of nociceptive hypersensitivity: The roles of sympathetic arousal, sex and pain-related fear
- Conditioned pain modulation and offset analgesia: Influence of sex, sex hormone levels and menstrual cycle on the magnitude and retest reliability in healthy participants
- Pain evaluation and prosocial behaviour are affected by age and sex
- The roles of race, sex and cognitions in response to experimental pain
- Pain thresholds and intensities of CRPS type I and neuropathic pain in respect to sex
- Prevalence and associated psychosocial and health factors of chronic pain in adolescents: Differences by sex and age
- Sex matters in complex regional pain syndrome
- Reproducibility of quantitative sensory testing applied to musculoskeletal orofacial region: Site and sex differences
- Sex differences in pain
- Consultation prevalence among children, adolescents and young adults with pain conditions: A description of age- and gender differences
- Chronic musculoskeletal pain in European older adults: Cross-national and gender differences
To find out more about IWD 2023 please visit: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/
