Is medical research sexist?
A dark history of medical research is affecting women’s health & yes — our lives.
When we talk about the differences between men and women in healthcare, we tend to focus on the obvious:
Penises and vaginas.
Prostates and periods.
But, in reality, our bodies are far more nuanced — and the differences go way deeper than what’s in our pants.
We experience symptoms differently. We react to medications differently. And yet, until recently, our bodies weren’t studied differently. In fact, most of the time, they weren’t studied — at all.
This #TiaTalk, I’m diving deep into the dark history of medical research and clinical trials, answering the question:
Let’s start with a quick history lesson:
Since the beginning of time, medical researchers have opted to study male bodies over females ones — both in human and animal studies — assuming (incorrectly) that the female hormonal cycle would prove “too variable” during testing.
And in 1977, the FDA officially recommended excluding women from drug safety trials altogether. This ban stayed on the books until 1993 (😱) when women’s health advocates finally convinced the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that women’s participation in clinical research was essential to women’s health.
Yet, in 2018, women are dying — yes, you read that right — because the medical system all-too-often continues to treat us like men.
Because women get sick differently and experience pain differently than men, health issues often go undiagnosed, or aren’t taken as seriously as they should be.
For example, take the fact that 42% of women with heart attacks don’t feel chest pain. Or the harsh truth that under age 50, women’s heart attacks are twice as likely to be fatal as compared to men’s.
As a result, we’re not only less likely to be admitted into an Intensive Care Unit, but 7 times more likely to be misdiagnosed and discharged.
How else do women differ?
On the whole, we tend to be lighter, have lower BMIs, smaller organs, and totally different hormone makeups than our male counterparts. This means we digest and metabolize meds more slowly, store them in varying amounts, and clear them more gradually from our systems.
Not so surprisingly, dosage for common things like sleeping pills, psych meds, aspirin and even flu vaccines can have more than a 40% differential effect on women as compared to men. Yet all too often, dosing recommendations don’t account for sex at all.
And when we ignore these differences, the stakes are high: a Government Accountability Office study found that 80% of drugs removed from the market from 1997–2000 posed greater health risks to women than to men.
So, where are we now?
There’s still a lot we don’t understand. Like, why female patients are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s, or 3 times as likely to get lung cancer. Or why we make up more than three-quarters of people diagnosed with autoimmune diseases.
Then, there’s the fact that female cancer rates are projected to rise 6 times as fast in the next 20 years. One thing’s for sure though: to get to the bottom of this, we’re gonna need a whole lot more sex-specific medical research to figure things out.
Is any progress being made?
Slowly but surely, yes. In 2001, the NIH stipulated that all clinical studies must include female subjects to receive funding. Today, roughly half of its clinical-research participants are female (though, since its guidelines don’t mandate percentages, some phases and fields of research still remain skewed in numbers).
Recently, it also stipulated that these studies analyze sex in their results #miniwin 🎉. However, the NIH only funds about a third of medical research in the U.S, so it remains to be seen if other research conducted outside of the NIH will follow suit.
So, what can I do about it?
First and foremost, be your own patient advocate. We know that healthcare practitioners have a bad track record of dismissing female health concerns as hysteria, stress-related or psychological. So never, ever, ever let a doctor (or anyone else for that matter!) tell you that you’re “exaggerating” your pain.
Trust that you know your body. When something just doesn’t feel right, speak up for that until you get an answer.
And if you’re not happy with the care you’re receiving, remember that it’s in your power to find a doctor who makes you feel heard.
Second, if you’re starting a new medication, ask your doctor if it’s been tested specifically on female patients. If they’re not sure, ask to see some research — and don’t take no for an answer!
Last but not least, consider participating in medical research yourself, whether that’s a clinical trial or a screening study like the Wisdom Breast Cancer screening study.
Changing attitudes of researchers and scientists alone can only go so far without women participating. The future of women’s health depends on all of us!
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Tia is a personal, private women’s health advisor you message with about birth control, sexual health, periods and more. Made by a team of women’s health experts, Tia knows you, learns you, and is your go-to for all those “ugh!” , “oops…”, and “huh?” moments. On Tuesdays, we surface the top *anonymous* questions from the community and report back with the answer. Have a burning q you want us to tackle? Leave it in the comments below or email info@asktia.com.
