In the emergency room - Study: Men more likely to receive painkillers than women
Women are less likely to receive a prescription for pain medication after visiting the emergency room than men, according to a study using data from the USA and Israel. This gender difference persists regardless of whether the treatment is provided by a male or female doctor. The results were published in the journal "PNAS".
"Under-treatment of pain in female patients could have serious health consequences and may lead to longer recovery times, complications, or chronic pain conditions," explains Shoham Choshen-Hillel, a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), who led the study. The study analyzed over 20,000 electronic patient records from Israel and the USA.
Felix Walcher, president of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), says that it is not possible to scientifically answer whether these findings can be applied to Germany. "In Germany, we do not currently collect data on medication administration in emergency rooms, let alone gender-specific medication."
Assumption: Women exaggerate pain
Choshen-Hillel and colleagues suggest that the study's results may be due to a gender bias: "It is assumed that women describe their pain as more severe than men," they state. This prejudice is widespread among both male and female medical staff.
Another reason could be that men more often ask for pain medication than women. The research group calls for training for clinical staff to address potential under-treatment of women with pain medication.
Differences regardless of pain severity
The Israeli data showed that 38% of women who came to the emergency room with pain received a prescription for a pain-relieving medication, compared to 47% of men. These gender differences were consistent across mild, moderate, and severe pain levels reported by patients. All age groups were affected in a similar manner.
Additionally, women had to wait an average of 30 minutes longer in the emergency room for treatment than men. Furthermore, "We found that nurses record pain values less often for women than for men," the study authors write. Pain is often measured on a scale of 1 to 10.
Despite medical guidelines recommending that all patients with severe pain should receive pain medication, this was only the case for 50% of women and 59% of men according to the Israeli records. The analysis of American data confirmed these trends, although with slightly different percentages.
Experiment confirms hospital data
The researchers invited medical staff and nurses from the University of Missouri Health Care Hospitals to participate in an experiment. A total of 109 people participated, 96% of whom were nurses and 85% were women. They were given either a description of a patient with severe back pain or a patient with severe back pain, with only the gender differing.
The participating healthcare professionals rated the pain intensity of female patients lower than that of male patients. "The results of the clinical scenario study suggest that healthcare providers may underestimate the pain reports of women compared to those of men," the journal article states.
Information on emergency rooms in Germany may be possible.
Walcher, who is also the director of the Clinic for Trauma Surgery at the University Hospital of Magdeburg, supports studies like the one on pain medication in Germany. Medical care varies fundamentally across different countries. "We should really let the facts speak here - and use the study as an opportunity to take a closer look in Germany." It would be possible to obtain initial anonymized information from the so-called AKTIN emergency room registry in a few months.
The United States, like Israel, might also display gender disparities in pain medication prescriptions, given the prevalent assumption that women exaggerate their pain. The study findings in the USA could contribute valuable insights for addressing potential under-treatment of pain in women within the United States of America.
