Observational studyMedicine2016
Prospective clinical observational study evaluating gender-associated differences of preoperative pain intensity.
Observational study in Medicine, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- [Postoperative pain and sex/gender-current findings of the past decade].Schmerz (Berlin, Germany) · 2026Article
- From preoperative to postoperative: gender differences in elective ventral hernia repair.Hernia : the journal of hernias and abdominal wall surgery · 2026Article
- Article
- Sex differences in the consumption of over-the-counter analgesics among amateur volleyball players.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Previous studies reported conflicting results concerning different pain perceptions of men and women. Recent research found higher pain levels in men after major surgery, contrasted by women after minor procedures. This trial investigates differences in self-reported preoperative pain intensity between genders before surgery.Patients were enrolled in 2011 and 2012 presenting for preoperative evaluation at the anesthesiological assessment clinic at Charité University hospital. Out of 5102 patients completing a computer-assisted self-assessment, 3042 surgical patients with any preoperative pain were included into this prospective observational clinical study. Preoperative pain intensity (0-100 VAS, visual analog scale) was evaluated integrating psychological cofactors into analysis.Women reported higher preoperative pain intensity than men with median VAS scores of 30 (25th-75th percentiles: 10-52) versus 21 (10-46) (P < 0.001). Adjusted multiple regression analysis showed that female gender remained statistically significantly associated with higher pain intensity (P < 0.001). Gender differences were consistent across several subgroups especially with varying patterns in elderly. Women scheduled for minor and moderate surgical procedures showed largest differences in overall pain compared to men.This large clinical study observed significantly higher preoperative pain intensity in female surgical patients. This gender difference was larger in the elderly potentially contradicting the current hypothesis of a primary sex-hormone derived effect. The observed variability in specific patient subgroups may help to explain heterogeneous findings of previous studies.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.