National Pain Institute

Women, particularly younger women, are disproportionately affected by painful conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, endometriosis, menstrual migraines, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis and neuropathic pain. A review published in Science summarises the latest advances in visceral and somatic pain, highlighting the impact of sex hormones, immunoneural interaction, the gut microbiota and endogenous analgesic circuits. These studies are beginning to explain why women experience more intense pain than men, paving the way for mechanism-based precision therapies. “Women are desperately hoping for concrete answers that can help dispel the common notion that ‘it’s all in your head’ when it comes to their conditions,” the authors note. The research forms part of a Science special issue on women’s health, which includes four further articles.