Statistics and Sources

Statistics and Facts: 

• The term medical gaslighting is a key component of the pain gap. It is when doctors dismiss or minimize a patients symptoms or make a patient feel unseen and misunderstood. 

• In 1986 the NIH made a policy that encouraged the inclusion of women in clinical studies. 

• There are 10 chronic pain conditions that predominately affect women, and having one increases the risk of getting the others. 

• 8/10 medications taken off the market by the FDA between 1997 and 2000 were taken off because they posed a greater health risk to women. 

• Some studies show that women feel more intense pain than men. 

• Women are more likely to have heart attack symptoms not related to chest pain.

• 22.1% of women suffer from chronic pain (That's over 28 million people)

• Between 80-90% of fibromyalgia patients are women.

• 1 in 5 Americans Suffer from chronic pain.

• Some women wait as long as 7 years before being properly diagnosed.

• In the US alone 40-80 thousand people die each year due to diagnostic errors.

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Other Articles and Sources:
Booth, Stephanie. “Medical Gaslighting: How To Avoid It.” Health, Health, 5 Sept. 2018, https://www.health.com/mind-body/is-your-doctor-gaslighting-you.

Cleghorn, Elinor. “The Gender Pain Gap Has Gone on for Too Long – It’s Time We Closed It | New Scientist.” New Scientist, New Scientist, 23 June 2021, http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25033400-100-the-gender-pain-gap-has-gone-on-for-too-long-its-time-we-closed-it/.

“Combat the Gender Pain Gap - Wellframe.” Wellframe, https://www.wellframe.com/member-resource/the-gender-pain-gap/. 

Dance, Amber. “The Pain Gap.” Scientific America, 19 May 2016, www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-pain-gap/.

“Do Women Feel More Pain More Intensely than Men? - Riverside Pain Physicians.” Riverside Pain Physicians, 12 Jan. 2021, https://riversidepainphysicians.com/do-women-feel-more-pain-more-intensely-than-men/.

Graves, Ginny. “The Gender Pain Gap: Why Men Get Better Pain Treatment Than Women.” Good Housekeeping, Good Housekeeping, 20 May 2022, https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/a39763690/gender-pain-gap-explained/.

“Heart Disease in Women: Understand Symptoms and Risk Factors - Mayo Clinic.” Mayo Clinic, 20 Jan. 2022, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-disease/in-depth/heart-disease/art-20046167#:~:text=Women%20are%20more%20likely%20than,in%20one%20or%20both%20arms.

“History of Women’s Participation in Clinical Research | Office of Research on Women’s Health.” Home | Office of Research on Women’s Health, https://orwh.od.nih.gov/toolkit/recruitment/history#:~:text=In%201986%2C%20NIH%20established%20a,inclusion%20of%20women%20and%20minorities. 

Jackson, Gabrielle. “Why Don’t Doctors Trust Women? Because They Don’t Know Much about Us | Books | The Guardian.” The Guardian, The Guardian, 1 Sept. 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/02/why-dont-doctors-trust-women-because-they-dont-know-much-about-us.

Kiefer, Brittaney. “How One Brand Is Addressing the Gender Pain Gap.” Adweek, Adweek, 15 Nov. 2022, https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/how-one-brand-is-addressing-and-aims-to-close-the-gender-pain-gap/.

Latifi, Fortesa. “The Pain Gap: Why Women’s Pain Is Undertreated - HealthyWomen.” HealthyWomen, HealthyWomen, 26 July 2021, https://www.healthywomen.org/condition/pain-gap-womens-pain-undertreated.

Pennell, Olivia. “Why Isn’t Women’s Pain Taken Seriously?” Shondaland, Shondaland, 27 Feb. 2020, https://www.shondaland.com/live/body/a31097753/why-isnt-womens-pain-taken-seriously/.

Rettner, Rachael. “Women Feel Pain More Intensely Than Men Do - Scientific American.” Scientific American, Scientific American, 23 Jan. 2012, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/women-feel-pain-more-intensely/.

“Sex Differences in Pain: A Brief Review of Clinical and Experimental Findings - PMC.” PubMed Central (PMC), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3690315/#:~:text=The%20direction%20of%20sex%20differences,it%20does%20across%20published%20studies. Accessed 2023.

Signh, Nicole. “The Gender Gap In Pain: How Womens Illnesses Are Treated Differently.” Junkee, https://www.facebook.com/junkeedotcom, 30 Dec. 2018, https://junkee.com/gender-gap-pain/188116.

Villines, Zawn. “Gender Bias in Healthcare: Examples and Consequences.” Medical and Health Information, Medical News Today, 25 Oct. 2021, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/gender-bias-in-healthcare#examples.