Women in England almost twice as likely as men to be prescribed opiate painkillers

Experts worried about high use of drugs such as codeine and tramadol after prescriptions rose during Covid pandemic

• I was told to live with it': women tell of doctors dismissing their pain

Women in England are almost twice as likely as men to be prescribed powerful and potentially addictive opiate painkillers, prompting experts to warn that female pain is overly medicated and not properly investigated.

The number of people prescribed drugs such as codeine and tramadol - often used for chronic pain - rose to 1.18 million in the first 10 months of 2020. Of these, 745,047 were women and 434,697 were men, a Guardian analysis found.