Last Friday March 1 took place in Barcelona the conference “Chronic Pain. Analysis of how Sex and Gender interact”. The event was held at the Acadèmie de Ciències Mèdiques i de la Salut de Catalunya i de Balears in Barcelona and was organized by the Societat Catalana de Dolor and the Asociación Mujer y Dolor.
Dr. Inmaculada Failde, Professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health and Director of the Observatory of Pain, spoke at the conference exposing the main differences in chronic pain between men and women. The data presented were the product of the Pain Observatory’s own research with the support of the Grünenthal Foundation, such as the results of the Barometer of Chronic Pain in Spain 2022, and other data from the European Health Survey 2020.
Among the most relevant data we can highlight that women tend to present chronic pain in a higher proportion than men, 58.7% compared to 41.3%, with the average duration of pain in women being 48 months compared to 38 months in men. In addition, women with chronic pain more frequently present anxiety, depression and sleep disturbances than men with chronic pain, which influences the fact that they have more limitations in their usual activities.
On the other hand, the main factors limiting physical quality of life in women are usually fibromyalgia and low back pain, and in men arthrosis, low back pain and diabetic neuropathy or other neuropathy; however, the factors limiting mental quality of life in women are usually low back pain, endometriosis or dysmenorrhea and disc herniation, while in men it is usually headache, neck pain and low social support.
These and other data can be consulted in the document prepared by the Grünenthal Foundation “Barometer of Chronic Pain in Spain 2022”. You can access the full report by clicking here.
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