Gender Discrimination is Associated with Greater Chronic Pain Interference Among Women

Pain disparities between men and women are found in multiple domains; women have been shown to experience greater pain intensity, pain disability, and risk for chronic pain. While often ascribed to biological differences, recent research has demonstrated the significance of social determinants of gendered pain disparities. Gender discrimination is one factor that disproportionally affects women and has been associated with adverse health outcomes, yet has received less attention in pain research. Discrimination is intrusive and stressful, and may exacerbate the extent to which chronic pain interferes with life. Prior work has shown that among women, general experiences of discrimination are indirectly associated with pain interference through perceived stress. However, the direct relationship between gender discrimination specifically and pain interference has not been explored. Here, using data from the Midlife in the United States national survey, we first assessed the relationship between daily experiences of discrimination due to any aspect of identity and pain interference in those with chronic pain. We further explored whether discrimination due to gender specifically was associated with pain interference among women. Results indicated that daily discrimination was associated with greater pain interference within the whole sample; however, within-group analyses found that this relationship was only significant for women, and not men. Exploring further within women only, discrimination due to gender predicted greater pain interference, controlling for health-related covariates. These findings support recent calls for probes into the role of discrimination on health outcomes and suggests that experiencing discrimination contributes to disruption of life and pain disparities.

PERSPECTIVE: The findings presented here advance our understanding of the harmful impact of discrimination on pain outcomes, broadening its scope by providing evidence regarding the association between gender discrimination and pain interference. Considering known pain disparities between men and women, we discuss potential insight into mechanisms contributing to this burden.