Research brief
Chest pain is one of the most common reasons people go to the emergency room, and women with chest pain are less likely to receive painkillers than men. Now, a study in PLOS One of over 1800 ER patients found that this difference is especially pronounced for women over 57.
Compared to older women, younger women are about 50% more likely to receive IV morphine, and men of any age are about twice as likely to receive IV morphine.
According to the data, all other age–sex groups had higher odds of receiving IV morphine. Younger men had the highest odds, followed by older men and younger women, although the latter was not statistically significant. IV fentanyl use was low overall and did not differ significantly between groups.
