One of the most commonly neglected findings in the human pain literature is the observation of sex differences in the mechanisms that support the phenotypic expression of pain. The present commentary describes an assessment of the prevalence of observed sex differences in various pain processes, and of how expert pain researchers interpret the epidemiology and, hence, the proximate and ultimate causes of such differences. Forty-two pain investigators completed an anonymous survey on the epidemiology of sex differences in the human pain experience. Investigator responses indicated that sex differences are pervasive across various areas of pain research, that sex differences are particularly pronounced in the area of situational influences on pain behaviors, and that contemporary pain researchers largely disagree on the epidemiology of, and hence, proximate and ultimate causes of the differences. The relevance of social situational factors on sex differences in pain behaviours is discussed in the context of evolutionary, developmental, social psychology and pain sensory systems that may function, in part, for regulating interpersonal intimacy.

中文翻译：

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关于人类疼痛性别差异的流行病学的现状和未来方向

人类疼痛文献中最常被忽略的发现之一是观察到支持疼痛表型表达的机制中的性别差异。本评论描述了对在各种疼痛过程中观察到的性别差异的普遍程度的评估，以及对疼痛专业研究人员如何解释流行病学以及由此造成这种差异的近因和最终原因的评估。42名疼痛调查人员完成了一项关于人类疼痛经历中性别差异的流行病学的匿名调查。研究者的回答表明，性别差异在疼痛研究的各个领域中普遍存在，性别差异在对疼痛行为的情境影响领域尤为明显，当代疼痛研究人员在流行病学上存在很大分歧，因此，差异的最接近和最终原因。社会环境因素与疼痛行为中性别差异的相关性在进化，发展，社会心理学和疼痛感官系统的背景下进行了讨论，这些系统可能部分起调节人际亲密关系的作用。