Women experience more bodily pain than men across every part of the human anatomy, according to a global study published in Nature Medicine. Researchers analyzed data from more than 6 million people across 118 countries, revealing that pain prevalence rises most steeply before age 55.
A major new analysis has mapped pain across the human lifespan using self-reported data from 6,125,459 individuals collected between 1990 and 2025. Participants ranged in age from 5 years to over 100 years old, with 55 percent being female. The pooled analysis was approved by the McGill University Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Research Ethics Board under institutional review board study number A12-M69-23B (23-10-068).
Global Disparities Across Eleven Sites
The study evaluated pain across 11 major body regions: the head, face, neck or shoulder, foot or ankle, hand or wrist, elbow, chest, back, stomach or abdomen, hip, and knee. Across every single site, women reported suffering more pain than men.
Back pain emerged as the most commonly reported complaint overall, affecting roughly 40 percent of participants, while facial pain was the rarest at 2 percent. Women proved 83 percent more likely than men to report facial pain, 74 percent more likely to suffer headaches, and 60 percent more likely to experience stomach or abdominal pain, as detailed in the study findings.
Lifespan Trajectories Shape Pain Burdens
Pain prevalence does not increase linearly with age. Researchers discovered that the sharpest rises occur before age 55.
Headaches, facial pain, and abdominal pain tend to peak earlier in life before declining. In contrast, musculoskeletal discomfort in weight-bearing joints—such as the lower back, hips, and knees—increases progressively through adulthood, reaching peaks at or beyond age 75.
“Although the likelihood of experiencing any pain rises steadily with age, the most disabling forms of pain followed an inverted-U trajectory, peaking in mid-to-late adulthood before declining.”
Study authors, via The Independent
Socioeconomic Factors Shape Regional Disparities
Smoking, obesity, and lower household income together accounted for 18.3 percent of the global pain burden. This proportion varied by world region, ranging from 12.6 percent in sub-Saharan Africa to 27.1 percent in eastern Europe.
Among adults aged 80 and older, the prevalence of general bodily pain was about 31 percentage points higher in countries with lower Human Development Index values, where low back pain was nearly twice as common as in highly developed nations.
Clinical Realities of the Gender Pain Gap
“Pain also rises most steeply before age 55, during women’s working, caring and reproductive years. It is strong evidence that the gender pain gap is real, consistent and global. Yet women’s pain is still too often dismissed, under researched and undertreated.”
Andrew Horne, director of the Center for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh in the U.K., via Yahoo
Study authors emphasized that utilizing self-reported data helps capture pain burdens in populations with limited healthcare access who might otherwise be omitted from diagnosis-based health estimates. When addressing discomfort, patients are encouraged to consult qualified healthcare professionals to discuss non-opioid and non-pharmacologic options, alongside maintaining a healthy weight, strengthening muscles that support joints, and avoiding smoking.