Women have to wait longer in an emergency Men receive painkillers more often than women
Anyone in severe pain gets something for it in the emergency room? That's not always true. In the case of women, doctors and nursing staff may think more often: they are exaggerating anyway.
06.08.2024, 05:58
06.08.2024, 09:02
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- According to a study from the USA and Israel, women are less likely to receive a prescription for painkillers after visiting the emergency room than men.
- The researchers suspect a gender bias behind the results: it is assumed that women exaggerate their pain compared to men.
- According to the researchers, another reason could be that men ask for painkillers more often than women.
- Women also had to wait an average of 30 minutes longer for treatment in an emergency than men.
According to a study from the USA and Israel, women are less likely than men to receive a prescription for painkillers after seeking emergency treatment. It does not matter whether the treatment is provided by a male or female doctor.
"This under-treatment of female patients' pain could have serious consequences for women's health, potentially leading to longer recovery times, complications or chronic pain conditions," explains Shoham Choshen-Hillel. The professor from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel) led the study, for which more than 20,000 electronic patient records from Israel and the USA were analyzed. The results were published in the specialist journal "PNAS".
Assumption: women exaggerate
Choshen-Hillel and colleagues suspect a gender bias behind the results of their study: "It is assumed that women exaggerate their descriptions of pain compared to men," they explain. This prejudice is widespread among both men and women in the medical profession.
According to the researchers, another reason could be that men ask for painkillers more often than women. The research team calls for training for hospital staff to counteract the underuse of painkillers by women.
Differences - no matter how severe the pain was
The Israeli data showed that 38 percent of women who came to the emergency department with pain received a prescription for an analgesic medication. The figure for men was significantly higher, at 47 percent. The gender differences were seen with slight variations in mild, moderate and severe pain reported by patients. All age groups were similarly affected by this difference.
Women also had to wait an average of 30 minutes longer for emergency treatment than men. In addition: "We found that nurses record pain scores for women less frequently than for men," write the study authors. The severity of pain, for example, is indicated on a scale of 1 to 10.
Although medical guidelines stipulate that all patients with severe pain should receive pain medication, according to the files from Israel, this was only the case for 50 percent of female patients and 59 percent of male patients. The analysis of the American data confirmed all of these trends, albeit with slightly different percentages.
Experiment confirms hospital data
The researchers invited doctors and nursing staff at the University of Missouri Health Care Hospital to take part in an experiment. 109 people took part, 96 percent of whom were nursing staff and 85 percent women. They were given a description of either a patient with severe back pain or a female patient with severe back pain - which did not differ except for gender.
The participating healthcare staff rated the pain intensity of female patients lower than that of male patients. "The results of the clinical scenario study suggest that healthcare providers underestimate the pain reports of women compared to those of men," says the article.