To study the changes in pain intensity and distress and their gender differences evoked by tourniquet at 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 mmHg pressures in the upper arm of healthy college students.The verbal rating scale (VRS) was applied to measure the changes in pain intensity and distress during 10 min processing of tourniquet at different pressures in the upper arms of 42 (male 22, female 20, from 18 to 23 years old, 19.11±1.03)healthy college students.The results showed as the following: (1) No significant pain and distress were caused by tourniquet at the pressure of 50 mmHg.The moderate-severity pain intensity and distress were evoked at the pressures of 200 and 250 mmHg.And the tourniquet pain intensity and distress evoked at the pressure of 100 and 150 mmHg were significant lower than that of 200 and 250 mmHg groups (P<0.05, n=42 per group);(2)The tourniquet pain intensity and distress gradually increased in a time dependent manner at a constant pressure.There is no significant gender difference in pain intensity under the condition of 50-250 mmHg pressures.Except 50 mmHg, there is a significant gender differences in 100-250 mmHg-induced tourniquet distress (P<0.05,per group).That is to say, after 4th min at 100, 5th min at 150 and the last two minutes at 200 and 250 mmHg pressures, the female felt higher tourniquet distress than male.These results suggest that tourniquet pain intensity and distress enhanced with the increase of pressures, and the gender difference could be observed in tourniquetinduced distress, but not in pain intensity.