Gender, age and ethnicity influence on pain levels and analgesic use in the acute whiplash injury

Purpose Initial pain level in the acute whiplash injury is the most consistent predictor of transformation to a chronic pain syndrome. The risk factors for those early pain levels were, to our knowledge, scarcely evaluate to this date. We set to evaluate whether gender, age or ethnicity comprise a risk factor for those initial pain levels. Further, gender, age and ethnicity have been shown to be bias factors in pain management. We investigated if gender, age or ethnicity are bias factor in pain management in the face of a standardized pain treatment protocol in the acute whiplash injury. Methods We reviewed 2,538 patients with acute whiplash injury that were treated at our emergency department (ED). Gender, age and ethnicity were investigated as risk factors for elevated visual analog scale (VAS) scores. Those factors were also investigated as bias in pain medication administration in the face of a standardized analgesic protocol. Results Women had significantly higher VAS scores ( p = 0.009). Age and ethnicity did not influence pain levels. There was no influence of gender or age on pain medication administration. The Jewish patients (the majority in Israel) were administered fewer pain medication ( p