ArticleThe journal of pain2021
Gender Biases in Estimation of Others' Pain.
Article in The journal of pain, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 111 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
111 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 291 citations in OpenAlex.
- Medical student perceptions of gender and pain: a systematic review of the literature.BMC medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Learning by observing: a systematic exploration of modulatory factors and the impact of observationally induced placebo and nocebo effects on treatment outcomes.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Pooled it
- The role of exercise for pain management in adults living with and beyond cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2023Pooled it
- Psychosocial factors associated with pain and health-related quality of life in Endometriosis: A systematic review.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2022Pooled it
- TheWestern journal of nursing research · 2025Trial
- The role of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation for menstrual pain relief: A randomized control trial.Women's health (London, England)Trial
- Sex-related differences in pain following posterior spinal fusion for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: a retrospective cohort study.Spine deformity · 2026Article
- Missed opportunities: delayed in-hospital palliative care consultations in patients with non-metastatic cancers.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Gender, Gender Role Beliefs, and Evaluation of Pain in Others: Indirect and Moderated Pathways.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026Article
- Gender-Based Differences in Arthroplasty Utilization Across Two Tertiary Academic Centers.Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews · 2026Article
- Physicians' gender and specialty in relation to adverse drug reaction reporting in Sweden.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Observational
- Exploring Demographic Differences in Postintubation Analgesia by Racial Group, Sex, and Age.The Journal of emergency medicine · 2026Article
- The effects of observer gender on feline acute pain assessment using three pain scoring instruments.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Sex Differences and Psychological Assessments in Chronic Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Clinical neuropsychiatry · 2026Article
- Gender Differences in Disease Burden, Symptom Burden, and Quality of Life Among People Living With Heart Failure and Multimorbidity: Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Article
- Initial Imaging for Adults With Maxillofacial Trauma in a National Claims Database.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Intersectional Bias in Healthcare-The Inequity Borne by the Patients: A Qualitative Study.Journal of oral rehabilitation · 2026Article
- International perspective on healthcare provider gender bias in musculoskeletal pain management: a scoping review.BMJ open · 2026Article
- The Critical Care Pain Observation Tool for Families (CPOT-Fam).Canadian journal of pain = Revue canadienne de la douleur · 2026Article
- The power of words: the role of clinician communication and language in the management of women with chronic pelvic pain through a narrative review.Gynecology and pelvic medicine · 2026Review
51 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Caregiving and other interpersonal interactions often require accurate perception of others' pain from nonverbal cues, but perceivers may be subject to systematic biases based on gender, race, and other contextual factors. Such biases could contribute to systematic under-recognition and undertreatment of pain. In 2 experiments, we studied the impact of perceived patient sex on lay perceivers' pain estimates and treatment recommendations. In Experiment 1 (N = 50), perceivers viewed facial video clips of female and male patients in chronic shoulder pain and estimated patients' pain intensity. Multi-level linear modeling revealed that perceivers under-estimated female patients' pain compared with male patients, after controlling for patients' self-reported pain and pain facial expressiveness. Experiment 2 (N = 200) replicated these findings, and additionally found that 1) perceivers' pain-related gender stereotypes, specifically beliefs about typical women's vs. men's willingness to express pain, predicted pain estimation biases; and 2) perceivers judged female patients as relatively more likely to benefit from psychotherapy, whereas male patients were judged to benefit more from pain medicine. In both experiments, the gender bias effect size was on average 2.45 points on a 0-100 pain scale. Gender biases in pain estimation may be an obstacle to effective pain care, and experimental approaches to characterizing biases, such as the one we tested here, could inform the development of interventions to reduce such biases. Perspective: This study identifies a bias towards underestimation of pain in female patients, which is related to gender stereotypes. The findings suggest caregivers' or even clinicians' pain stereotypes are a potential target for intervention.
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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.