Why Women Are More Likely To Be Misdiagnosed for Pain

Women are not only listened to less in the workplace and in leadership roles, but also by the people we are supposed to trust the most – medical providers.

From ovarian cysts being labeled as normal “period pain” to autoimmune disorders being misdiagnosed as depression, a host of women’s health issues are commonly misdiagnosed by doctors, or simply dismissed as a figment of their imagination.

This disparity can have wide-ranging, significant, and even fatal implications; in one study published by Academic Emergency Medicine, women who visited the ER reporting severe stomach pain were forced to wait, on average, nearly one third of the time longer than men who went in complaining about the same symptoms.

So, why does this kind of gaslighting still happen in the age of modern medicine, and what can we do about it?

Women In Pain May Be Treated Less Seriously Than Men

In the past, doctors used to commonly diagnose women who came into their office with all types of physical and mental ailments with “hysteria,” and prescribe pills (often with sedative effects) to calm them down.

It’s not much different today. Women who tell their doctors that they’re in pain are significantly more likely than men complaining of the same symptoms to receive prescriptions for sedatives, and not painkillers.

In one study, women who had undergone coronary bypass surgery were only 50% as likely to be prescribed painkillers, compared to men who had received the exact same medical procedure. In the ER in the United States, men only wait an average of 49 minutes before receiving an analgesic for acute abdominal pain, while women wait an average of 65 minutes. 

Some more troubling statistics recently published in the Washington Post illustrate the discrepancy between the way female and male pain is treated, and the implications of doing so:

• The Journal of the American Heart Association reported that women who visited emergency departments in 2022 with chest pain had to wait 29% longer on average than men to be screened for potential heart attacks.
• In an analysis of 981 emergency room visits, women who had acute abdominal pain had up to a 25% less likely chance than males with the same symptoms to be prescribed powerful opioid painkillers
• Middle-aged women who told their doctors they had symptoms of heart disease such as chest pain were twice as likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness, compared to men with the same symptoms

We Understand Female Physiology Less Than Male

Part of the reason for these disparities and gender biases within the medical system is that the medical community has done less research oriented on female pain and physiology. The medical concepts of most diseases are contingent on how we understand male physiology, and the studies done are typically oriented around male subjects. This can have devastating, even fatal effects.

For example, The New England Journal of Medicine published a study in 2000 finding that women are seven times more likely than men to suffer a misdiagnosis and actually be discharged while actually having a heart attack. 70% of people who suffer from chronic pain are women, but 80% of studies on pain are conducted on human men or male mice. 

In one of the few studies that specifically look into how gender can impact the way we experience pain, women were found to feel more pain for more often, and at higher levels of intensity than men. Although researchers haven’t been able to pinpoint the exact reasons behind this discrepancy, it is likely that hormones and biology play a significant part.

It Happens More Often Than You Think – Even To Women Doctors

Here’s more good news for women: Even female physicians and medical professionals are not immune to this discrepancy.

A recent Washington Post article highlights the experiences of Ilene Ruhoy, a 53-year-old female neurologist in the Seattle area. Ruhoy was experiencing recurrent pounding in her ears and headaches. Even though she had a medical degree and specialized in studying how the brain worked, it was difficult for her to get doctors to order a brain scan.

The wait wasted precious time, and by the time they finally looked into the issue, a tumor the size of a tennis ball had formed in her brain and was putting pressure on it. Ruhoy survived the ensuing surgery, but the tumor had grown too large to be completely taken out, so she now must undergo radiation treatment for the smaller tumors that formed. If she had been taken seriously and evaluated in time, the smaller tumors may not have had time to form.

We have a long history in the West of negating female pain and stereotyping women as being more prone to being “hysterical.” Even in today’s age of modern medicine, it’s more likely for women to have their complaints misdiagnosed as psychological disorders or – as Ruhoy’s case illustrates – brushed off as “stress.”

Compounded with the knowledge gap (women were excluded from the majority of clinical research until the early 1990s), doctors today continue to have less information and general understanding of women’s symptoms, bodies, and common conditions.