Women may wait longer than men to receive treatment for pain.
That’s according to a new report recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which analyzed more than 20,000 patients across the U.S. and Israel. Women in pain sitting in a hospital’s emergency room had to wait up to 30-minutes longer for treatment than men, the report found. These biases, researchers say, can stem from a multitude of factors, including women being taken less seriously when they report pain symptoms.
“Our research reveals a troubling bias in how women’s pain is perceived and treated in emergency care settings,” Shoham Choshen-Hillel, associate professor at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Business School and lead researcher of the study, said in a press release. “This under-treatment of female patients’ pain could have serious implications for women’s health outcomes, potentially leading to longer recovery times, complications, or chronic pain conditions.”
Nurses were 10% less likely to record women’s pain scores, which researchers say “can contribute to underestimating the severity of women’s pain and result in inadequate treatment.” Both male and female doctors were found to less likely prescribe pain-relief medication to women than men.
Several studies have revealed the ongoing problem of sexism in medicine and its effect on women. Previous findings from KFF’s Women’s Health Survey found that 29% of women ages 18 to 64 report that doctors dismissed their symptoms, and 19% say doctors assumed something without asking. One in 10 women say they experienced discrimination from doctors within the past two years, and another 38% of uninsured women had trouble finding a doctor who explained things in simple terms. Promoting gender equity in health care can help keep women doctors on the job and improve access to quality healthcare for women, the National Institute of Health suggests.
Researchers in the latest study say that their findings reflect “a systemic under-treatment of women’s pain in medical settings,” and suggest better policies to address medical bias. The study also recommends specialized training programs to help healthcare professionals recognize and stop bias, and revamped pain management programs that “ensure fair and adequate treatment for all patients.”
