Summary: Researchers at Lund University report a clear gender-related difference in pain perception: men tend to report less pain when the stimulus or the pain assessment is performed by a woman than when it is performed by a man. This pattern emerged both in controlled experimental tests with healthy volunteers and in assessments of patients after surgery.
In controlled experiments, both male and female participants required stronger stimulation to reach the same reported pain threshold when a female examiner administered the stimulus. In a clinical setting, male postoperative patients reported lower pain levels when questioned by female investigators.
Key facts:
- In experimental tests, stronger stimulation was needed to reach an equivalent pain threshold when a female examiner administered the stimulus to male participants.
- In a clinical survey of postoperative patients, men—but not women—reported lower pain levels when assessed by a female investigator.
- All examiners followed the same script and wore neutral, professional clothing to reduce potential confounding influences from behavior or appearance.
Source: Lund University
New findings from Lund University in Sweden indicate that a man’s experience of physical pain can be influenced by the gender of the person who inflicts or assesses it. The research team observed this effect both in laboratory pain induction and in real-world postoperative assessments.
Anna Sellgren Engskov, a Ph.D. student at Lund University and consultant in anesthesiology and intensive care, led the work and will defend her dissertation titled “Perception of nociceptive pain—perspectives on induction, evaluation, and gender” on November 17. She emphasizes that the experimental design controlled for visual and verbal differences: “This was true despite the fact that the men and women involved in the study were dressed the same and used the same script,” she says.
The first experiment used short laser pulses delivered to the arch of the foot to study activation of different pain fibers. In addition to advancing understanding of nociceptive mechanisms, the researchers noticed an unexpected effect: male participants needed stronger laser stimulation to reach the same pain threshold when the person administering the stimulus was a woman rather than a man.
A follow-up experiment focused specifically on gender effects. Participants were given a small handheld device that emitted a weak electric current when a button was pressed; they were instructed to release the button as soon as they experienced pain. Each participant completed the test twice—once with a female examiner and once with a male examiner. Both examiners wore neutral, professional clothing and adhered strictly to a preset script to minimize behavioral differences.
“As in the first study, it took stronger stimulation to produce the same self-reported pain level when the examiner was female,” Sellgren Engskov reports. Importantly, this pattern was observed in both male and female research subjects during the laboratory tests.
To explore whether these findings translate to clinical practice, the team surveyed 245 patients across three postoperative wards at Skåne University Hospital. Each patient was asked about their pain by both a male and a female investigator shortly after surgery. The researchers found a partial confirmation of the experimental results: male patients, but not female patients, reported less pain when questioned by a female investigator. The differences were modest and unlikely to shift group-level clinical practice on their own, but they could be meaningful for individual patients—especially in situations where pain reached levels that prompted requests for analgesics.
Existing literature suggests that women, on average, may display higher empathetic responsiveness and more subtle nonverbal cues—such as more frequent smiling and more direct eye contact—which could shape patient responses. The research team notes, however, that whether such social or communicative factors explain the observed gender effect remains uncertain.
Professor Jonas Åkeson, the project’s main supervisor and senior physician in anesthesiology and intensive care at SUS in Malmö, underscores the broader relevance: “This is the first confirmation of these results both experimentally in healthy individuals as well as clinically with newly operated patients. Including the gender perspective when pain is evaluated may help ensure that patients receive better-tailored care and pain treatment in the future.”
About this pain perception research news
Author: Jonas Åkeson
Source: Lund University
Contact: Jonas Åkeson – Lund University
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News