Gender differences in response to drugs: pain medications.

Differences exist between men and women in both perception of and response to pain. Whereas gender-related differences in pharmacokinetics may have confounded earlier studies of pain responses, emerging scientific evidence suggests gender-related pharmacologic differences in central nervous system opioid mu-receptor binding and in responses to kappa-opioid pain medications. These differences suggest the importance of developing gender-specific strategies for pain relief and highlight the need for further investigation of gender-related pain treatment strategies.