Women’s health goes beyond reproductive health
As we approach International Women’s Day, women continue to face barriers to access adequate healthcare, in the UK and abroad. In the recently conducted Women’s Health Survey launched by the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care, there was a consensus among respondents that more must be done to improve research, evidence and data on women’s health to ensure they feel represented in clinical trials and studies and receive adequate care.1 The definition of women’s health is often misinterpreted, with the common misconception that women’s health only concerns female-specific conditions such as fertility, gynecological conditions, and women’s oncology. There are, however, many conditions which affect women differently (cardiovascular diseases) or disproportionately (autoimmune diseases, migraines, osteoporosis) which are often under-recognized by the healthcare industry and health systems.2
Gender bias in clinical trials
This lack of knowledge notably originates from the documented underrepresentation of women in clinical trials from 1977, when the FDA created a policy to exclude women of reproductive age from Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials following the thalidomide disaster.3 Despite the FDA allowing women back into clinical research, women are still underrepresented in early-phase clinical trials, with females accounting for 29-34% of participants.4 As modern medicine was predominantly designed for the male physiology, this has led to misunderstandings related to dosing of medication, as there are notable differences in how the male and female body metabolizes medication. As a result, women are twice as likely as men to experience adverse events from drugs.5
Opportunities for gender parity in healthcare research and innovation
By including women within leadership roles for medical and clinical research and by incorporating how biological sex differences affect medical outcomes in the education of healthcare professionals, we can begin to close the gender health gap. The healthcare industry must also play its role in focusing on women’s health needs by investing in research and future treatments for female-specific conditions or conditions where women are disproportionately affected. Opportunities where the healthcare industry can step up and allocate resources include maternal health, where women globally are still dying from pregnancy- and childbirth-related causes; endometriosis, a poorly understood but prevalent condition with currently no cure; and menopause, causing symptoms that significantly affect women’s quality of life but with treatment availability remaining sparse. With only approximately 1% of healthcare research and innovation invested in female-specific conditions beyond oncology, there is a ripe opportunity for the pharmaceutical and medical device industries to meet the healthcare needs of women.2
References:
- Department of Health and Social Care. (2022) ‘Women’s Health Strategy: Call for Evidence – Summary of Responses’. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/womens-health-strategy-call-for-evidence/outcome/3fa4a313-f7a5-429a-b68d-0eb0be15e696#executive-summary (Accessed: 3 March 2025).
- Kemble, E., Pérez, L., Sartori, V., Tolub, G. and Zheng, A. (2022) ‘Unlocking opportunities in women’s healthcare’. McKinsey & Company. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare/our-insights/unlocking-opportunities-in-womens-healthcare (Accessed: 3 March 2025).
- American Association of Medical Colleges. (2022) ‘Why we know so little about women’s health’. Available at: https://www.aamc.org/news/why-we-know-so-little-about-women-s-health (Accessed: 3 March 2025).
- Fultinavičiūtė, U. (2022) ‘Sex and science: underrepresentation of women in early-stage clinical trials’. Clinical Trials Arena. Available at: https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/features/underrepresentation-women-early-stage-clinical-trials/ (Accessed: 3 March 2025).
- Soldin, O.P. and Mattison, D.R. (2009) ‘Sex differences in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics’. Clinical Pharmacokinetics, 48(3), pp. 143–157. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3644551/ (Accessed: 3 March 2025).
