Chronic Pain in Women
Written by: Steacy Coombs
Chronic pain is pain that lasts for 3 months or longer. It can range from mild to being severe enough to impact your daily activities [2]. This pain can range from mild to very bad, that does not go away as expected. Symptoms can present as shooting, burning, aching, or electrical, resulting in soreness, tightness, or stiffness. Chronic pain can result in tiredness, depression, missing school or work, and a weakened immune system.
Chronic pain affects a higher proportion of women than men around the world, with approximately 60% of all chronic pain sufferers being women; however women are less likely to receive treatment [3]. Research has shown that women generally experience more recurrent pain, more severe pain and longer lasting pain than men [2].
Many people are unaware that certain pain conditions are more prevalent in women than in men. For example:
- fibromyalgia, a condition characterized by chronic widespread pain, is significantly more prevalent in women (80–90% of diagnosed cases are women).
- irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
- rheumatoid arthritis
- osteoarthritis
- temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ)
- chronic pelvic pain
- migraine headache [3,5].
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) Chronic Pain Network, co-led by Queen’s University researcher-Dr. Ian Gilron, was awarded $25 million in direct and matching funds from the CIHR to advance knowledge and patient care for millions of Canadians suffering from this disease [6].
This Chronic Pain Network will conduct a variety of programs involving laboratory and clinical research studies on chronic pain to identify new treatments to manage and prevent chronic pain. The network will also examine the impact of sex, gender, and ethnic differences on chronic pain and develop more effective communication strategies and health policies to translate new research results into improved health-care outcomes [6].
Long-term academic goals if Dr. Gilron’s Group are to improve the clinical management of pain by advancing knowledge about mechanisms, treatments and functional impact of painful conditions through, with a main focus on gender differences in pain reporting and pain treatment response [7,8,9].
One of Dr. Gilron’s publications highlights the gender differences in pain response [10]:
Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial of alpha-lipoic acid for the treatment of fibromyalgia pain: the IMPALA trial
Major findings from this paper include:
- Fibromyalgia is a common and challenging chronic pain disorder without effective treatment options.
- Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is a nonsedating antioxidant, a promising treatment of symptomatic diabetic neuropathy had not been evaluated in fibromyalgia treatment.
- Proof of-concept, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover trial was conducted of ALA for the treatment of fibromyalgia.
- Results: a significant interaction between gender and treatment with a significant favourable placebo–ALA difference in pain for men, but not for women.
What does this mean?
This trial did not provide any evidence to suggest promise for ALA as an effective treatment for fibromyalgia, which is predominantly prevalent in women. This negative clinical trial represents an important step in a collective strategy to identify new, better tolerated and more effective treatments for fibromyalgia.
References
[1] https://hellogiggles.com/lifestyle/women-stand-up-chronic-pain-doctors/
[2] https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/cpain
[3] https://www.iasp-pain.org/advocacy/global-year/pain-in-women/
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6466318/
[5] https://chrysaliscenter-nc.com/3282-2/
[6] https://www.queensu.ca/gazette/stories/hope-chronic-pain-sufferers
[7] https://dbms.queensu.ca/faculty/ian-gilron
[8] https://kingstonhsc.ca/research/ian-gilron
[9] https://anesthesiology.queensu.ca/faculty-staff/ian-gilron
