Abstract

GUTIERREZ LOMBANA, William  and  GUTIERREZ VIDAL, Sergio Esteban. Pain and gender differences. A clinical approach. Rev. colomb. anestesiol. [online]. 2012, vol.40, n.3, pp.207-212. ISSN 0120-3347.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rca.2012.05.007.

Introduction: Pain continues to be one of the most frequent complaints in clinical centers. Pain Consequently, understanding gender differences in relation to pain is important and critical  for the clinical management of patients by the different healthcare services. Pain in patients  of different gender is usually treated in the same way; however, there are several gender-associated factors involved in the management of pain, which sometimes are not taken into consideration in clinical practice. Objective: To describe the differences between men and women as far as pain is concerned, taking into consideration anatomical, physiological, neural, hormonal, psychological, social and cultural factors in the practice of anesthesia. Methodology: A non-systematic review was undertaken using the key words in the Pubmed/Medline, Science Direct, OVID, SciElo data bases. Results and conclusions: Differences between men and women when it comes to pain involve anatomical, physiological, neural, hormonal, psychological, social and cultural factors. When examining those factors, it is found that women report pain more frequently, and have a lower threshold for pain than men. They usually complain more of muscle-skeletal, neuropathic, electrical shock and temperature-related pain, but respond better to opioids, in particular κ receptor-binding opioids.

Keywords : Analgesia; Anesthesia; Gender identity.

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