(Nature) – A study of hospital emergency departments suggests that women have more limited access to painkillers and medical care.

Physicians treat men and women differently when it comes to pain — women in hospital wait longer to be seen and are less likely to receive pain medication than men, finds a study comparing how pain is perceived and treated in male and female patients.

The findings, published on 5 August in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, highlight how our perception of others’ experiences of pain can be affected by unconscious bias. (Read More)