Columbus, Jan. 31 -- A new study discovered that the brain mechanism that allows us to regulate our own pain changes with age, and that gender-based disparities in those changes may cause females to be more sensitive to mild pain than males as they age.

Researchers used fMRI scans to look at brain responses in men and women who judged the degree and unpleasantness of pain while exposed to escalating amounts of heat. The findings revealed that long-standing gender disparities in pain perception might be linked back to this brain network, and they provided additional evidence that those gender differences may become more pronounced as people age.

The study was published recently in The Journal of Pain.

"The most novel part of this study ...