Underrepresentation of Women's Health in Research: Addressing Gender Disparities

Percentage of topics in each high-level thematic area in 2010 and 2020

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It’s time to shift the focus of research from "bikini medicine" to what really affects women

A new study has found that women’s health research continues to focus disproportionately on the reproductive years, especially pregnancy, with few articles on the leading causes of illness and death in women.

Despite growing awareness of differences in the way women experience medical conditions and the impact this can have on diagnosis and treatment, this gap in research has widened over the past ten years, the researchers found. researchers.

Lead author Laura Hallam of the George Institute for Global Health said the focus on so-called "bikini medicine" arose from the mistaken belief that women’s health only differs from men’s in body parts. that would cover a bikini.

“Historically, women’s health research has focused on reproductive health. However, non-communicable diseases are now the leading cause of death and disability for women in most countries, particularly in low- and middle-income countries,” she said.

“Sex and gender bias in research and healthcare can lead to worse health outcomes for women, particularly in conditions that are not recognized as women’s health problems.”

George Institute researchers analyzed the core health content of articles published in six women’s health journals and five leading general medical journals in 2010 and 2020, ranking the main topics of the medical area and life stage under study. They then compared these findings to the leading causes of disease in women according to the well-established Global Burden of Disease study .

They found that, in 2010, just over a third (36 percent) of women’s health content in both sets of magazines focused on reproductive health , and by 2020 this had increased to just under half (49 and 47 percent for each type of magazine respectively).

The opposite was true for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), with a decrease in NCD content over this time period in both types of journals.

During both years combined, cancer was by far the most covered NCD topic in women’s health magazines at just over 40 percent, followed by mental illness and substance abuse at 22 percent. hundred. Cardiovascular diseases accounted for just over 15 percent of NCD articles.

In general medical journals, just over half (51.5%) of NCD topics in women’s health were about cancer, followed by nerve and nervous system disorders (9.7%). , with cardiovascular disease at the lower end of the scale along with mental illness, substance abuse, and muscle and bone health (7.5 percent).

"Overall, we found that many diseases that actually contribute to considerable health and death in women, such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, and chronic lung disease, were poorly covered in women’s health literature," she said. Mrs. Hallam.

“In addition, when we categorized the articles according to a woman’s life stage, we found that most were about pregnancy or the reproductive years, with very few articles about menopause,” she added.

“While women’s life expectancy is generally longer than men’s, women have fewer healthy years and high rates of disability in old age, so it is important to monitor health and well-being throughout life. life and study the diseases that are more common in old age. , that could impact women more.”

The researchers found very few articles focused on sex- and/or gender-based analysis, reinforcing the need for it to be more routinely incorporated into medical and health research to gain a better understanding of how men and women Women experience the disease differently.

"Our study shows that journals, funders and researchers have much work to do to expand the understanding of women’s health, so that women of all ages are adequately and effectively served by scientific research and the health benefits that result from it," he said. Mrs. Hallam.