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Researchers analysing data from more than 6 million people in 118 countries found women reported more pain than men at each of 11 body sites studied. The findings show a broad global pattern, but the data do not establish why the difference exists or track pain changes in the same individuals over time.
A global study involving more than 6 million people found that women reported more pain than men at all 11 body sites examined, according to research published in Nature Medicine. The analysis spans data from 118 countries and people aged five to over 100, adding evidence to debates about differences in pain burden and whether women’s pain is adequately recognised and treated.
The researchers brought together data collected between 1990 and 2025 to examine how self-reported pain varies by age, sex and region. The 11 sites included the head, face, neck or shoulder, chest, back, abdomen, hip, knee, elbow, hand or wrist, and foot or ankle. Women reported more pain than men at each site, with particularly noticeable differences reported for headaches, facial pain and abdominal pain.
Back pain was the most commonly reported type, affecting about 40% of participants; facial pain was the least common, at 2%. Pain patterns also differed by body area and age. Back, hip and knee pain generally became more common with age, while headache, abdominal and facial pain tended to peak earlier and then decline. Upper-body pain, including neck, shoulder and elbow pain, peaked around midlife.
For men and women alike, the steepest increase in reported pain occurred before age 55, while pain overall peaked at or after 75. The researchers also reported that high-intensity pain peaked at about 50 and generalised pain at about 70. These are patterns across the collected data, not a record of how pain changed for each individual over their lifetime.
Why Pain Patterns Matter in Care
The findings matter because pain affects daily life and can lead people to seek medical care, yet the study’s experts say women’s pain may be dismissed, diagnosed later or undertreated. A consistent difference across body sites and countries gives researchers and health services a broad basis for examining whether pain assessment and treatment meet women’s needs.
Professor Andrew Horne, director of the Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh, told the Guardian that pain rises most steeply before age 55, overlapping with many people’s working, caring and reproductive years. That timing makes the age pattern relevant to discussions of health and support during adulthood. The study does not, however, show that these roles cause pain or explain the difference between women and men.
The regional findings also point to unequal pain burdens. The researchers found higher rates of pain later in life in areas with lower Human Development Index scores, including almost twice the rate of low back pain among older people. Such patterns can help identify where further research and better access to care may be needed, but they do not by themselves establish the causes of those disparities.
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How Researchers Mapped Pain
The study combines information from datasets covering 118 countries and a very wide age range. It assessed self-reported pain rather than relying only on diagnosed conditions. The researchers said this approach can capture experiences that diagnosis-based records may miss, particularly where people have limited access to health care.
The analysis also considered factors associated with pain. The researchers reported that smoking, obesity and lower household incomes together accounted for 18.3% of the global pain burden in their analysis. That figure describes the study’s assessment of these factors; it does not mean they explain the sex difference, nor does it show that any one factor caused an individual’s pain.
Professor Rebeccah Slater, professor of Paediatric Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, told the Guardian that the study showed a higher reported pain burden among women across a diverse population. Her comments underline the distinction between documenting a pattern and determining why it occurs. The study’s results are an analysis of combined population data, not a clinical test of pain thresholds in individual women and men.
“Pain rises most steeply before age 55, during women’s working, caring and reproductive years.”
— Professor Andrew Horne, director of the Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh, speaking to the Guardian
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What the Data Cannot Establish
The findings show differences in self-reported pain, but they do not explain why women reported more pain or establish the biological, social or health-care factors behind the pattern. The data also do not demonstrate that every woman experiences more pain than every man; the results describe population-level patterns.
The researchers noted that pain was measured in different ways across the datasets, and some regions and the youngest and oldest age groups were less well represented. The analysis compared age groups at a point in time rather than following the same people across their lives. Its age patterns therefore cannot confirm how an individual’s pain changes as they grow older.
Although the experts quoted in the Guardian raised concerns about dismissal and undertreatment, the study summary does not establish how often those experiences occur or whether they explain the reported differences. The precise causes of the sex gap, and how much each factor contributes, remain unclear.
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Research and Care Questions Ahead
The researchers said the results could support better pain monitoring and prevention and more equitable approaches to care. Further work could examine why pain reports differ, how measurement methods affect results, and whether patterns vary within particular countries or groups that were underrepresented in the datasets.
Horne called for women’s pain to be taken seriously in clinical settings, alongside more research and better treatments. The study does not set out a specific policy change or treatment plan, and no next research milestone is identified in the source material. For now, its central contribution is a large-scale record of reported pain patterns—and a set of questions for clinicians, researchers and health systems to investigate.
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Key Questions
What did the global study find?
It found that women reported more pain than men at all 11 body sites examined, using data from more than 6 million people in 118 countries.
Does the study prove why women report more pain?
No. The analysis documents a population-level difference in self-reported pain, but it does not establish the causes of that difference.
Which types of pain were most and least common?
Back pain was the most commonly reported, affecting around 40% of participants. Facial pain was the least common, at 2%.
Did the researchers follow the same people over time?
No. The analysis compared age groups in collected datasets rather than following the same individuals throughout their lives, so it cannot show each person’s pain trajectory.
What limitations did the researchers identify?
Pain measures differed across datasets, and some regions and age groups were less represented. The results also rely on self-reports, which describe participants’ reported experiences rather than a single standardised clinical measure.
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