Leave it to science to reveal hidden truths behind the battle of the sexes: according to a new study of patient records, women reported feeling about 20 percent more pain than men. This study, of course, does NOT mean men have superhuman abilities, nor does it mean women are frail creatures comparatively. "We may have to adjust our thinking about how men and women report their pain," said Dr. Atul Butte, the lead author of the study. "The killer question is: Do women actually feel more pain than men?" Of course, that's not how the internet interpreted it.
The findings, which were published today in the Journal of Pain (jpain.org, natch), acknowledge that the study doesn't provide any clues as to why women report feeling more pain—they are not claiming that women are more sensitive to pain, necessarily. For every study that "proves" women are more likely than men to seek medical care—and are less shy about telling doctors how much pain they're in—there is a doctor who claims women tend to let pain build up before seeking treatment.
This study IS useful in one way: because doctors can use it as a launching pad to figuring out differences between the sexes in terms of when they should start treating pain: "We use these as a kind of threshold—when do we start pain medicine? Are we treating someone with enough pain medicine? We need to have that understanding that there is a sex difference here," said Butte.
But judging by all the headlines, things are much more black and white. The Daily News: "Women feel more pain than men: study." The Daily Mail: "Women feel more pain than men, claims study." NPR: "Women Report More Pain Than Men From Same Ailments." U.S. News And World Report: "Pain Intensity Greater for Women Than Men, Study Finds." At the end of the day, it seems just as accurate to extrapolate that men generally don't like to admit feeling pain as it is to claim pain is more painful for women.
