information:classification, structural:summarization
Undertreatment

Consensus in evidence-based medicine and the recommendations of medical specialty organizations establish guidelines to determine the treatment for pain which health care providers ought to offer. For various social reasons, persons in pain may not seek or may not be able to access treatment for their pain. Health care providers may not provide the treatment which authorities recommend. Some studies about gender biases have concluded that female pain recipients are often overlooked when it comes to the perception of their pain. Whether they appeared to be in high levels of pain didn't make a difference for their observers. The women participants in the studies were still perceived to be in less pain than they actually were. Men participants on the other hand were offered pain relief while their self reporting indicated that their pain levels didn't necessarily warrant treatment. Biases exist when it comes to gender. Prescribers have been seen over and under prescribing treatment to individuals based on them being male or female. There are other prevalent reasons that undertreatment of pain occurs. Gender is a factor as well as race. When it comes to prescribers treating patients racial disparities has become a real factor. Research has shown that non-white individuals pain perception has affected their pain treatment. The African-American community has been shown to suffer significantly when it comes to trusting the medical community to treat them. Oftentimes medication although available to be prescribed is dispensed in less quantities due to their pain being perceived on a smaller scale. The black community could be undermined by physicians thinking they are not in as much pain as they are reporting. Another occurrence may be physicians simply making the choice not to treat the patient accordingly in spite of the self-reported pain level. Racial disparity is definitely a real issue in the world of pain management.