Women are more prone to long-term and often agonising conditions such as migraines, irritable bowel syndrome and arthritis

Doctors are failing to give women the right level of pain relief, researchers say.

It has always been assumed that women's bodies give them a higher pain threshold than men, to help them cope with the agony of childbirth.

But a study suggests the opposite is true.

Women generally experience more recurrent pain, more severe pain and longer lasting pain than men. 

Not only this, but they feel pain in different ways to the opposite sex, offering different symptoms for the same conditions.

Different hormones, body composition and central nervous systems means women are more susceptible to a range of painful conditions, according to experts at a conference for the International Association for the Study of Pain.

Dr Troels Jensen, the association's president, said: 'Chronic pain affects a higher proportion of women than men, but unfortunately they are also less likely to receive treatment compared to men due to various cultural, economic and political barriers.

'IASP hopes to provide a voice to these women by drawing attention to this global issue as a first step towards reducing pain and suffering of women around the world.'

Even widely used, over-the-counter medicines such as paracetamol have less of an effect on women, it has been found.

Scientists told the conference in Glasgow that their findings could be used to prevent thousands of sick days each year, saving the country millions of pounds. 

The research paper also claims that many doctors fail to take women patients as seriously as men, often brushing off their symptoms as 'psychological'.

This is despite the fact that women are more prone to long term- and often agonising  -  conditions-such as migraines, irritable bowel syndrome and arthritis.

Cultural factors also influence a woman's likelihood of seeking treatment for medical conditions, including pain.

In many cultures, women believe that their suffering is part of their role in society.

Additionally, treatment by a male healthcare provider may also bring shame to a woman's family, forcing her to go without treatment. 

Dr Beverly Collett, chairman of the Chronic Pain Policy Coalition, said: 'It is only in the past ten years we have started to understand these differences, and it remains an under-researched area.

'But even the knowledge we have has not filtered down and the average GP has no idea that drugs such as paracetamol and morphine work differently in women.'

A study in Sweden last year showed that women having heart attacks presented generalised pain in their shoulders and back rather than shooting pain in the chest and left arm.

Most doctors and nurses are unaware of these differences, which can have life-threatening consequences for women. 

And, until recently, studies carried out on the effects of pain were always conducted on male rodents, with the assumption that the genders suffered similarly.