Women are 1.38 times more likely than men to report neck pain due to cervical degenerative disc disease, researchers including one of Indian-origin have found.
Meda Raghavendra from Loyola University in Chicago and Joseph Holtman studied 3,337 patients of which 61 per cent were women.
The findings add to the growing body of research on the differences in which men and women experience pain, researchers said.
Previous studies have found that females are more likely to be treated at pain clinics for chronic pain and that certain painful conditions, such as migraine headaches and fibromyalgia, are more common in women.
Various explanations have been proposed, including hormonal differences and the belief that men may be less willing to report pain.
Cervical degenerative disc disease is a common cause of neck pain. Symptoms include stiff or inflexible neck, burning, tingling and numbness.
Pain is most prevalent when the patient is upright or moving the head, researchers said.
The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine in California.
