Global study of 6.1 million people finds women experience more pain across all body sites

Broad scale and gender differences

A global epidemiological study analyzing 6.1 million individuals across 118 countries and territories found that women consistently report higher levels of pain than men across all 11 examined bodily sites. Led by researchers at McGill University in Montreal and published in Nature Medicine, the project compiled self-reported data from national and international surveys conducted between 1990 and 2025. Participants ranged in age from five to more than 100 years old, with women comprising more than half of the sampled cohort. The surveyed anatomical regions included the head, face, neck or shoulder, chest, back, stomach or abdomen, elbow, hand or wrist, hip, knee, and foot or ankle. Gender disparities were most pronounced in self-reported headaches, facial pain, and abdominal pain.

Age trajectories and peak timings

The research revealed that overall pain does not simply rise in a continuous line with aging, but follows distinct trajectories depending on anatomical location. Across the lifespan, the probability of experiencing any form of pain climbs from approximately 30% at age five to roughly 70% among individuals aged 100 or older. The steepest rise across all anatomical sites takes place before age 55, concentrating a substantial share of the lifetime pain burden within working-age adulthood. High-intensity pain reaches its peak around age 50, whereas generalized pain peaks near age 70. In seven of the eleven examined body sites, pain follows an inverted-U trajectory, reaching a maximum during mid-to-late adulthood before subsequently declining.

Bodily distribution and socioeconomic disparities

Abdominal pain reaches its highest prevalence earliest, peaking around age 23, followed by headaches peaking at age 34 and facial pain at age 45. Musculoskeletal issues peak later, with elbow pain topping out around age 59 and neck or shoulder discomfort peaking around age 62. In contrast, joint and spine conditions involving the back, hip, and knee do not decline, but increase steadily across the entire lifespan. Back pain represented the single most common condition, reported by approximately 40% of all participants, while facial pain was the rarest at 2%. In regions falling in the lowest tiers of the Human Development Index, older adults experienced higher overall bodily pain prevalence and nearly double the rates of low back pain.

Contributing factors and treatment gaps

Researchers linked the observed gender disparities to multiple biological, social, and systemic medical factors. Marta Miret, a researcher at the Autonomous University of Madrid who participated in the research alongside Spanish teams from the Carlos III Health Institute, noted that women frequently suffer from under-researched painful conditions including endometriosis, menstrual migraines, and rheumatoid arthritis.

They tend to assume a double burden of work and family, and do more caregiving. In general, women suffer more pain, have less time to attend to that discomfort, and it becomes more chronic.

The study authors noted that women remain less likely to receive adequate pain relief prescriptions and experience longer delays before diagnoses. By analyzing self-reported pain rather than clinical diagnostic records, the research sought to capture individuals who lack access to formal medical care.