WASHINGTON — Your gender may factor into the amount of pain you experience after surgery.

Researchers who interviewed 10,200 patiens over more than four years in Germany found men tend to feel more pain after major surgeries than women.

Women tend to feel more pain after minor surgical procedures,CBS News reports.

Why there’s a difference is not known, but the study speculates that the kind of surgery a person is undergoing plays a role.

Some surgeries, such as cancer-related biopsies or abortions, may have a serious emotional toll on women.

Researchers say the pain also could be linked to anxiety before the surgery even takes place.

The research is being presented at the 2014 Euroanaesthesia meeting in Stockholm.

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