Global study reveals women report higher pain levels than men

A massive global epidemiological study published in Nature Medicine has revealed a significant gender gap in pain reporting. Analyzing data from over 6.1 million individuals across 118 countries collected between 1990 and 2025, researchers found that women consistently report higher levels of pain than men across all 11 anatomical sites studied, including the head, face, neck, back, abdomen, hips, and knees.

The most pronounced disparities were observed in cases of headaches, facial pain, and abdominal discomfort. While pain prevalence generally increases with age—rising from approximately 30% at age five to 70% in those over 100—the sharpest increase for both sexes occurs before the age of 55. This suggests that a significant portion of the lifetime pain burden accumulates during the working-age years.

Specific patterns were noted for musculoskeletal pain; while neck and shoulder pain often peak in middle age, pain in the back, hips, and knees tends to increase steadily throughout life, peaking around age 75 or later. The study also identified socioeconomic and lifestyle factors contributing to the global pain burden, noting that smoking, obesity, and low household income were linked to approximately 18.3% of the total global pain load.