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A global analysis of self-reported pain found that women reported pain more often than men at all 11 anatomical sites it examined. The study pooled data from more than 6.1 million people in 118 countries, but it measured population patterns in reported pain—not the cause of the difference or what any one person will experience.
What did the global pain study find?
The peer-reviewed study, “Global and regional reference curves for pain across the lifespan in 6.1 million individuals in 118 countries,” harmonized individual-level data from 6,125,459 participants and 902 population-based sources. The underlying sources covered multiple years; The Guardian describes the period as 1990–2025, so the figures do not represent everyone surveyed at one moment.
Across the 11 sites measured, women had higher self-reported pain prevalence than men. The sites were head, face, neck or shoulder, foot or ankle, hand or wrist, elbow, chest, back, stomach or abdomen, hip and knee. The reported gap was especially pronounced for headache, facial pain and abdominal pain.
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This is a comparison of prevalence: how often people reported pain in the populations represented. It does not mean every woman experiences more pain than every man, and it does not establish that women universally feel pain more intensely. The indexed preprint gives female-to-male risk ratios from 1.09 to 1.83, but site-specific comparisons should be taken from the final paper rather than inferred from that preprint range.
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How did pain vary by age and body site?
The analysis found that the overall likelihood of reporting pain rose with age, with the steepest increase occurring before age 55. Patterns differed by type of pain rather than following one curve for every body part.
- Back, hip and knee pain: prevalence continued to increase across the lifespan.
- Headache, abdominal and facial pain: these types peaked earlier and later declined.
- High-intensity pain: the study’s age curve peaked at about 50.
- Generalized pain: the curve peaked at about 70.
The Guardian’s account of the study estimates that about 40% of participants reported back pain, while facial pain was the least common, at 2%. These are study estimates as reported by the newspaper, not universal rates for every country or age group.
Did the study explain why women reported more pain?
No. The study documents a consistent population-level difference in reports, but it does not settle whether biological, social, measurement or healthcare factors explain it. The result should not be recast as proof that women are biologically more sensitive to pain or that one factor accounts for the gap.
The analysis also attributed 18.3% of global pain burden to smoking, obesity and low household income together. This is a modeled risk-factor estimate, not proof that these exposures caused pain in any particular person. The Guardian reported regional variation, including higher bodily pain prevalence among older people in lower-HDI regions; its summary describes nearly twice the low-back-pain rate in older age compared with the highest-HDI regions. That comparison should be understood as a population estimate, not an individual forecast.
How should the findings be interpreted?
The study is a large harmonized observational analysis, not a clinical trial or a longitudinal study following the same people throughout life. It builds age-specific reference curves by combining surveys and other population data sources that can differ in how they asked about pain and defined it. As a result, age patterns compare groups at different ages; they do not show that the same individuals’ pain changed in precisely that way over time.
- Self-report matters: the outcome is what participants reported, not a standardized clinical measurement of pain in every case.
- Coverage is uneven: the study’s source data do not provide equal geographic coverage or representation at the youngest and oldest ages.
- Age curves are population references: they describe broad patterns and should not be used to predict an individual’s pain.
- Causes remain unresolved: the observed sex difference does not by itself identify its biological, social or healthcare explanations.
Professor Andrew Horne, director of the Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh, called the result evidence that the gender pain gap is “real, consistent and global,” and added that women’s pain is too often dismissed, under-researched and under-treated. This is Horne’s expert reaction reported by The Guardian, not a conclusion tested by the study. The Guardian also quoted University of Oxford neuroscientist Rebeccah Slater saying women’s pain is more likely to be dismissed, diagnosed late or undertreated; that, too, is commentary rather than a measured outcome of this analysis.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the findings mean for readers
The clearest takeaway is narrow but consequential: across a very large set of population data, women reported pain more often than men at every body site included. Pain prevalence also varied substantially by age and pain type. The study establishes the breadth of those patterns; it does not diagnose an individual, explain the difference, or assess the quality of treatment in every health system.
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