297: Gender differences in common daily life activities discussed in the patient-physician encounter

Topic: Clinical Science
Subtopic: Pain category (ICD-11), Chronic primary musculoskeletal pain, Gender/sex differences

Background and Aims: Chronic pain is often a lifelong condition affecting virtually all areas of life (1). As part of the rehabilitation process, most patients with chronic pain need to learn how to live with pain and adjust their daily life activities (1). Patients with chronic pain sometimes meet gendered expectations about how to prioritise among activities and duties (2, 3) but little is known about how gender norms might affect the patient-physician encounter. The aim of this study is to analyse gender differences in common daily life activities performed by individuals with chronic pain and discussed in the patient-physician encounter.

Methods: The Swedish EPIPAIN study (4), a cross-sectional general population study, started in 1995 (responders n=2425), with follow-ups in 1998, 2003, 2016 and 2025. In 2025, 803 individuals participated, 194 of them (126 women, 68 men; age 50-70 years) had chronic pain and answered questions about their last doctors’ appointment. A list with 28 daily life activities was presented. In the middle of the questionnaire, participants rated how often they performed the listed activities. At the end of the questionnaire, they stated whether they had discussed the listed activities with their physician. Statistical analyses included descriptives, confidence intervals and Chi-square tests.

Results: Women and men often performed household work like dishwashing (88% women; 84% men), preparing meals (81% women; 74% men) or grocery shopping (75% men; 73% women). Sex differences were found, e.g., repairs (75% men; 23% women), laundry (84% women; 52% men) and housecleaning (73% women; 59% men).
Among the “top-10-list” of activities often performed but not discussed with the physician were personal hygiene (86% men; 85% women), dishwashing (85% men; 80% women) and driving the car (78% men; 77% women). Sex differences were found, e.g., repairs (70% men; 25% women), car wash (47% men; 18% women) and laundry (74% women; 53% men).

Conclusions: Despite many similarities between men and women with chronic pain in daily life activities often performed, and daily life activities discussed with the physician, significant sex differences were found in activities like laundry, housecleaning, car wash and repairs. Traditional gender norms might affect patients’ participation in daily life activities, as well as activities discussed in the patient-physician encounter.

References: Bérubé et al. Living successfully with chronic pain: Identifying the pivotal conditions needed to make it happen (2025). J Pain.
Samulowitz et al. “Brave men” and “emotional women”: a theory-guided literature review on gender bias in health care and gendered norms towards patients with chronic pain (2018). Pain Res Manage.
Stenberg et al. ‘I am afraid to make the damage worse’ – fear of engaging in physical activity among patients with neck or back pain – a gender perspective (2014). Scand J Caring Sci.
Aili et al. Long-term trajectories of chronic musculoskeletal pain: a 21-year prospective cohort latent class analysis (2021). Pain.

Presenting Author: Anke Samulowitz
Submitting Author: Anke Samulowitz

Senior Author: Anke Samulowitz

IASP 2026 Global Year theme of Neuropathic Pain: No

• Anna Grimby Ekman: Professor - School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Institute of Medicine, The Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Sweden
• Maria Niklasson Larsson: Professor - Department of Education, Research and Development Primary Health Care, Region Västra Götaland, Gothenburg, Sweden. Unit of Physiotherapy, Department of Health and Rehabilitation, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, The Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
• Stefan Bergman: Professor - Spenshult Research and Development Center, Halmstad, Sweden