Pain Research Theme: Pain in women, children and specific populations
Pain is not processed in quite the same way across people, and there are critical differences as the pain system develops from infancy, childhood and through the lifespan to older individuals. There are also fundamental sex-related differences in pain processing and modulatory control, alongside often large sex differences in the epidemiology of some types of chronic pain. Fundamental differences also occur in people with neurodevelopment conditions such as autism and ADHD. This means that basic and clinical pain research needs to embrace heterogeneity across multiple dimensions. Examples of ongoing projects are:
- Pain infants and young children
- Pelvic pain and endometriosis
- Pain processing, communication and recognition in autism
Oxford researchers working within this theme:
- Caroline Hartley, Associate Professor & Wellcome Trust/Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellow, Department of Paediatrics
- Rebecca Slater, Professor of Paediatric Neuroscience, Department of Paediatrics
- Katy Vincent, Professor of Gynaecological Pain, Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health
Project webpages: