Pain and sex hormones: a review of current understanding

• Published in: Pain management Vol. 6; no. 3; pp. 285 - 296
• Main Authors: Maurer, Adrian J, Lissounov, Alexei, Knezevic, Ivana, Candido, Kenneth D, Knezevic, Nebojsa Nick
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Future Medicine Ltd 01-05-2016
• Subjects: Androgens; Back pain; Birth control; Cancer therapies; Chronic pain; Chronic Pain - physiopathology; Epidemiology; Estrogens; Female; Fibromyalgia; Gender differences; Gene expression; gonadal steroid hormones; Gonadal Steroid Hormones - physiology; Headaches; Humans; Lung cancer; Male; Males; Menstruation; Narcotics; Nociception - physiology; pain; Pain - physiopathology; Pain management; Pain Threshold - physiology; Physiology; Rheumatoid arthritis; Sex Characteristics; sex differences; Sex Factors; Sexes; Womens health; chronic pain; pain; female; gonadal steroid hormones; humans; gender differences; male; sex differences
• ISSN: 1758-1869; 1758-1877
• DOI: 10.2217/pmt-2015-0002

Multiple epidemiologic studies have demonstrated an increased prevalence for women in several chronic pain disorders. Clinical and experimental investigations have consistently demonstrated sex-specific differences in pain sensitivity and pain threshold. Even though the underlying mechanisms responsible for these differences have not yet been elucidated, the logical possibility of gonadal hormone influence on nociceptive processing has garnered recent attention. In this review, we evaluated the complex literature regarding gonadal hormones and their influence on pain perception. We reviewed the numerous functions of gonadal hormones, discussed the influence of these hormones on several common chronic pain syndromes (migraine, tension and cluster headaches, fibromyalgia, temporomandibular syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis and back pain, among others), and have attempted to draw conclusions from the available data.