The gender pain gap: gender inequalities in pain across 19 European countries

Abstract

Aims: Chronic pain is increasingly considered to be an international public health issue – but gender differences in chronic pain in Europe are under-examined. This work aimed to examine gender inequalities in pain across Europe. Methods: Data for 27,552 men and women aged 25-74 years in 19 European countries were taken from the social determinants of health module of the European Social Survey (2014). Inequalities in reporting pain were measured by means of adjusted rate differences (ARD) and relative adjusted rate risks (ARR). Results: At the pooled pan-European level, a greater proportion of women (62.3%) reported pain than men (55.5%) (ARD 5.5% [95% CI 4.1%, 6.9%], ARR 1.10 [95% CI 1.08, 1.13]). These inequalities were greatest for back/neck pain (ARD 5.8% [95% CI 4.4%, 7.1%], ARR 1.15 [95% CI 1.12, 1.19]), but were also significant for hand/arm pain (ARD 4.6% [95% CI 3.5%, 5.7%], ARR 1.24 [95% CI 1.17, 1.30]), and foot/leg pain (ARD 2.6% [95% CI 1.5%, 3.8%], ARR 1.12 [95% CI 1.07, 1.18]). There was considerable cross‐national variation in gender pain inequalities across European countries. Conclusions: Significant gender pain inequalities exist across Europe whereby women experience more pain than men; this was most pronounced for back/neck pain. The extent of the gender pain gap varies by country. The gender pain gap is a public health concern, and should be considered in future prevention and management strategies.