Table 3.
Odds (with 95% CI) of self-reported abdominal pain, back pain, dizziness, sleeping problems, tiredness and headache among females compared with males at each age.
| Study | Age | Abdominal pain |
Back pain |
Dizziness | Sleeping problems | Tiredness | Headache |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OR (95% CI) | OR (95% CI) | ||||||
| Cavallo et al. (2006) (XS; HS)a | 11 | 1.64 (1.57–1.71) | 1.16 (1.10–1.22) | 1.18 (1.12–1.24) | 1.13 (1.09–1.17) | 1.51 (1.45–1.57) | |
| 13 | 2.00 (1.92–2.09) | 1.23 (1.18–1.29) | 1.58 (1.50–1.65) | 1.36 (1.31–1.41) | 1.88 (1.81–1.95) | ||
| 15 | 2.31 (2.20–2.42) | 1.28 (1.23–1.34) | 1.80 (1.71–1.88) | 1.56 (1.50–1.62) | 2.70 (2.59–2.81) | ||
| Gadin and Hammarstrom (2000) (XS)a | 9 | 0.70 (0.34–1.45) | 1.16 (0.70–1.95) | 1.29 (0.77–2.16) | 0.76 (0.39–1.48) | ||
| 12 | 0.89 (0.39–2.04) | 1.17 (0.65–2.12) | 0.94 (0.57–1.54) | 1.69 (0.87–3.26) | |||
| Grimmer et al. (2006) (L)a | 13 | 1.19 (0.59–2.40) | |||||
| 14 | 1.63 (0.83–3.20) | ||||||
| 15 | 2.14 (1.16–3.97) | ||||||
| 16 | 1.57 (0.82–2.99) | ||||||
| 17 | 2.97 (1.31–6.71) | ||||||
| Haugland et al. (2001) (XS; HS)a | |||||||
| Finland | 11 | 1.63 (1.34–1.99) | 0.99 (0.75–1.32) | 1.34 (1.04–1.73) | 1.10 (0.92–1.31) | 1.69 (1.42–2.02) | |
| 13 | 1.75 (1.38–2.22) | 1.30 (0.98–1.71) | 1.64 (1.27–2.10) | 1.14 (0.93–1.40) | 1.96 (1.60–2.39) | ||
| 15 | 1.84 (1.43–2.36) | 1.00 (0.78–1.29) | 1.42 (1.13–1.79) | 1.11 (0.90–1.36) | 2.81 (2.28–3.45) | ||
| Norway | 11 | 1.66 (1.29–2.14) | 1.28 (0.90–1.81) | 1.45 (1.07–1.98) | 1.47 (1.18–1.83) | 1.94 (1.49–2.52) | |
| 13 | 1.48 (1.13–1.93) | 1.10 (0.82–1.47) | 1.43 (1.07–1.91) | 1.17 (0.94–1.46) | 1.30 (1.01–1.66) | ||
| 15 | 1.78 (1.34–2.36) | 1.06 (0.83–1.37) | 1.53 (1.18–2.00) | 1.54 (1.23–1.94) | 2.19 (1.73–2.78) | ||
| Poland | 11 | 2.31 (1.74–3.08) | 3.29 (1.97–5.48) | 2.13 (1.45–3.14) | 1.12 (0.87–1.45) | 2.53 (1.93–3.30) | |
| 13 | 2.94 (2.08–4.14) | 1.17 (0.79–1.72) | 2.56 (1.77–3.72) | 1.31 (1.01–1.72) | 2.15 (1.65–2.81) | ||
| 15 | 2.33 (1.62–3.37) | 1.42 (1.00–2.00) | 1.78 (1.33–2.39) | 1.80 (1.38–2.33) | 3.04 (2.35–3.92) | ||
| Scotland | 11 | 1.46 (1.17–1.83) | 0.87 (0.62–1.22) | 1.22 (0.97–1.54) | 1.00 (0.83–1.20) | 1.31 (1.06–1.61) | |
| 13 | 1.52 (1.19–1.94) | 0.77 (0.57–1.04) | 1.26 (0.99–1.60) | 1.33 (1.07–1.66) | 1.53 (1.23–1.90) | ||
| 15 | 2.40 (1.75–3.29) | 1.09 (0.80–1.49) | 1.20 (0.92–1.56) | 1.50 (1.20–1.89) | 2.79 (2.20–3.54) | ||
| Heinrich et al. (2009) (XS; HS)a | 9–10 | 0.75 (0.56–0.99) | |||||
| 11–12 | 0.96 (0.72–1.28) | ||||||
| 13–14 | 1.12 (0.83–1.50) | ||||||
| Holmberg and Hellberg (2007) (XS)a | 13 | 2.86 (1.86–4.39) | 2.11 (1.52–2.92) | ||||
| 14 | 3.68 (2.30–5.88) | 3.06 (2.11–4.44) | |||||
| 15 | 4.08 (2.53–6.59) | 4.16 (2.86–6.05) | |||||
| 16 | 1.96 (1.24–3.10) | 4.66 (3.19–6.79) | |||||
| 17 | 4.68 (2.90–7.56) | 4.59 (3.02–6.99) | |||||
| Kujala et al. (1999) (XS)a | 10 | 1.13 (0.67–1.89) | 0.50 (0.19–1.30) | 1.38 (0.87–2.18) | |||
| 14 | 2.50 (1.40–4.47) | 1.62 (0.82–3.18) | 3.38 (2.02–5.68) | ||||
| 16 | 3.32 (1.05–10.4) | 1.30 (0.44–3.87) | 5.00 (1.96–12.7) | ||||
| Larsson and Sund (2005) (L)a | 13 | 2.68 (1.95–3.69) | |||||
| 14 | 3.04 (2.21–4.17) | ||||||
| Laurell et al. (2004) (XS)b | 7 | 1.10 (0.42–2.86) | |||||
| 8 | 1.16 (0.55–2.44) | ||||||
| 9 | 0.81 (0.42–1.58) | ||||||
| 10 | 0.97 (0.49–1.92) | ||||||
| 11 | 1.45 (0.78–2.70) | ||||||
| 12 | 1.95 (1.08–3.51) | ||||||
| 13 | 1.46 (0.75–2.87) | ||||||
| 14 | 3.33 (1.75–6.36) | ||||||
| 15 | 3.77 (2.02–7.03) | ||||||
| Leonardsson-Hellgren et al. (2001) (XS)a | 13–14 | 0.87 (0.43–1.75) | |||||
| 14–15 | 0.84 (0.32–2.17) | ||||||
| 15–16 | 1.37 (0.50–3.78) | ||||||
| Lundqvist et al. (2006) (XS)b | 7 | 0.62 (0.34–1.12) | |||||
| 8 | 1.34 (0.88–2.02) | ||||||
| 9 | 1.01 (0.67–1.53) | ||||||
| 10 | 0.83 (0.55–1.24) | ||||||
| 11 | 1.79 (1.19–2.68) | ||||||
| 12 | 1.22 (0.81–1.83) | ||||||
| Mortimer et al. (1993, 1992) (XS)a | 5–7 | 1.04 (0.54–2.01) | 1.05 (0.63–1.74) | ||||
| 9–11 | 1.05 (0.40–2.71) | 1.03 (0.64–1.67) | |||||
| Ostberg et al. (2006) (XS; HS)b | 10 | 1.84 (1.28–2.65) | 1.00 (0.74–1.35) | 1.90 (1.32–2.73) | |||
| 11 | 1.70 (1.17–2.49) | 0.82 (0.60–1.11) | 1.77 (1.25–2.50) | ||||
| 12 | 2.65 (1.78–3.93) | 1.35 (0.99–1.86) | 1.54 (1.09–2.18) | ||||
| 13 | 1.58 (1.07–2.31) | 1.03 (0.75–1.41) | 1.47 (1.05–2.06) | ||||
| 14 | 2.14 (1.35–3.39) | 1.13 (0.81–1.59) | 2.40 (1.67–3.46) | ||||
| 15 | 1.47 (0.95–2.28) | 1.43 (1.00–2.06) | 2.19 (1.52–3.14) | ||||
| 16 | 3.05 (1.91–4.86) | 1.21 (0.84–1.73) | 3.00 (2.05–4.38) | ||||
| 17 | 3.10 (1.83–5.24) | 1.10 (0.76–1.59) | 2.30 (1.55–3.41) | ||||
| Petersen et al. (2003) (XS; HS)a | 6 | 0.53 (0.21–1.35) | 2.06 (0.18–23.2) | 0.72 (0.34–1.50) | 0.59 (0.14–2.57) | ||
| 7 | 1.31 (0.60–2.84) | 0.38 (0.04–3.71) | 0.83 (0.39–1.79) | 1.19 (0.46–3.04) | |||
| 8 | 1.36 (0.62–2.95) | 0.70 (0.11–4.28) | 0.67 (0.31–1.47) | 1.15 (0.56–2.34) | |||
| 9 | 2.14 (0.91–5.04) | 0.87 (0.24–3.13) | 0.82 (0.41–1.61) | 2.30 (1.01–5.20) | |||
| 10 | 1.55 (0.70–3.44) | 0.76 (0.23–2.52) | 0.99 (0.49–2.00) | 1.13 (0.57–2.24) | |||
| 11 | 2.03 (0.94–4.38) | 0.91 (0.38–2.16) | 0.97 (0.53–1.77) | 1.67 (0.87–3.22) | |||
| 12 | 1.30 (0.61–2.78) | 1.95 (0.82–4.66) | 1.00 (0.51–1.93) | 1.38 (0.70–2.73) | |||
| Santinello et al. (2009) (XS; HS)a,e | 11 | 1.23 (1.00–1.53) | |||||
| 13 | 2.15 (1.75–2.64) | ||||||
| 15 | 2.91 (2.29–3.68) | ||||||
| Sleskova et al. (2005) (XS)d | 15–16 | 2.20 (1.56–3.11) | 2.28 (1.39–3.73) | 1.76 (1.35–2.28) | 2.03 (1.50–2.74) | ||
| 17–18 | 2.29 (1.69–3.10) | 4.31 (2.47–7.53) | 2.09 (1.61–2.70) | 4.18 (2.98–5.86) | |||
| Sundblad et al. (2007) (XS; HS)a | 9 | 1.39 (0.77–2.51) | 0.68 (0.42–1.11) | 0.37 (0.19–0.73) | 1.47 (0.80–2.69) | ||
| 12 | 1.90 (0.99–3.63) | 0.98 (0.59–1.64) | 1.23 (0.75–2.01) | 2.28 (1.42–3.66) | |||
| 15 | 2.70 (1.42–5.10) | 1.83 (1.12–2.99) | 1.25 (0.89–1.76) | 2.87 (1.82–4.52) | |||
| Sweeting and West (2003) (L; HS)b | 11 | 1.48 (1.26–1.74) | 0.82 (0.67–1.00) | 0.89 (0.76–1.04) | 1.49 (1.28–1.75) | ||
| 13 | 2.07 (1.74–2.47) | 1.25 (1.04–1.50) | 1.14 (0.96–1.35) | 1.48 (1.25–1.76) | |||
| 15 | 3.15 (2.62–3.80) | 1.68 (1.40–2.02) | 1.69 (1.42–2.01) | 2.41 (1.98–2.92) | |||
| Torsheim et al. (2006) (XS; HS)c | 11 | 1.86 (1.69–2.05) | 1.25 (1.14–1.37) | 1.41 (1.26–1.58) | 1.11 (1.04–1.18) | 1.58 (1.46–1.71) | |
| 13 | 2.29 (2.02–2.59) | 1.29 (1.19–1.40) | 1.83 (1.62–2.06) | 1.36 (1.26–1.47) | 2.01 (1.84–2.19) | ||
| 15 | 2.67 (2.33–3.06) | 1.34 (1.22–1.47) | 1.79 (1.59–2.01) | 1.57 (1.46–1.69) | 2.90 (2.64–3.18) | ||
| Wedderkopp et al. (2001) (XS)a | 8–10 | 0.34 (0.13–0.90) | |||||
| 14–16 | 1.22 (0.70–2.11) | ||||||
| Rhee et al. (2005) (XS)f | 11–21 | Female excess at all ages | Female excess at all ages | Female excess increased significantly with age | Female excess increased significantly with age | ||
XS cross-sectional study.
L longitudinal study.
HS ‘higher-scoring’ study.
a
Paper includes percentages with symptom and precise Ns required for calculation of ORs and 95% CIs.
b
Precise Ns required for calculation of ORs and 95% CIs obtained from author.
c
Paper includes ORs and 95% CIs of symptom among females compared with males.
d
Paper includes percentages ‘poor health’ and sample details (percentages of males and females and in each age group) allowing estimation of Ns required for calculation of ORs and 95% CIs.
e
Excluded from meta-analysis (data included in Cavallo et al., 2006).
f
Descriptive results from text of paper; further data unavailable; excluded from meta-analyses.