Gender differences in pain, fatigue, and depression in patients with cancer

A quick review of virtually any research topic documents the pervasiveness of sex and gender bias throughout all of science. A large portion of both animal and human research has been, and continues to be, done primarily with male subjects. This gender bias influences research results and often leads to inappropriate and questionable generalizations of research findings, usually from studies done with male participants to females. Needless to say, this bias exists in symptom management research on pain, fatigue, and depression in patients with cancer. This article reviews the evidence from the studies on gender differences in pain, fatigue, and depression in patients with cancer. It should be noted that research studies on gender differences in cancer-related pain, fatigue, and depression are minimal in number, are restricted to studies of the differences in prevalence rates and severity scores, and for the most part have yielded inconsistent results. Additional investigations are warranted to determine whether the gender differences in prevalence rates and severity of these symptoms represent clinically meaningful differences. If these gender differences are substantiated, these findings will guide the design of studies to elucidate the underlying mechanisms for these differences, as well as the development and testing of gender specific interventions to treat cancer-related pain, fatigue, and depression.