Vents MagaZine Music and Entertainment Magazine
Related Articles
Topics in women’s health research may not go as far back into our history as most might assume. It was not until 1993 and the dedicated policy in the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act that women were required to be included in clinical research studies, paving the way to outline how treatments and pathologies affect females differently than males. Today, efforts are still underway to ensure that women receive not only critical health care for known conditions, but also benefit from advances in medical discovery to improve quality of life and overall outcomes. This past April, President Joe Biden signed an executive order called the Initiative on Women’s Health Research, hoping to close the gap.
To the research team at Sago, which recently hosted a panel discussion titled “Breaking the Silence on Women’s Health: From Perception to Truth,” this disparity is alarming but nothing new. According to Forbes, only 4% of all health care research and development is focused on women’s health, yet 51.1% of the U.S. population is female. During a Sago research survey of adults about their understanding of the U.S. health care system, respondents were asked what percentage of research and development they believed was dedicated to women’s health. The response was 40%, a staggering discrepancy between perception and reality.
Gaps in research on how illnesses and conditions affect women can have alarming consequences. Diseases that only impact women, such as studies into endometriosis and menopause, go without innovation or improvement in quality of life for millions. Meghan Rivera, president of U.S. markets for Organon, deftly pointed out women’s health can be “specific to conditions that are unique to women, but it is not restricted to reproductive health.”
Sago’s Research: ‘Clearly Different Clinical Features’
There are also the disproportionate impacts that some diseases have on women compared to men, as well as the alarmingly different ways that different conditions can impact men and women. Shannon Childs, executive vice president of client solutions at Sago, has examined the research through a broader impact lens. “Even though men are twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s, women who contract it progress faster and have a higher mortality rate than men,” Childs explained. “And yet, there’s not been nearly enough conversation around how we change that treatment paradigm or invest more heavily in what makes this clinical profile different for women than it is for men. Because there’s clearly different clinical features for a female Parkinson’s patient than a male Parkinson’s patient.”
Therapies for these diseases need to catch up. In 2021, 50 new medicines were approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but according to Sago research, only five were designed to address conditions unique to women’s health. This impacts longevity as well as quality of life. Ashley Wade, executive vice president, sales, head of strategic health at Sago, contextualized the research findings, adding that funding and focus on research and development in women’s health have “impact on how she thrives, how I thrive, how we as women who make over 80% of the household’s decisions for care thrive.”
While apathy and inattention to women’s health dominate the space, studies have shown that doubling the NIH budget for women-focused research and assuming a 0.01% improvement in health can save tens of thousands of life years while reducing disease costs in the billions.
More work needs to be done to garner support and funding for research and development priorities in women’s health. “We have to really look holistically at women’s health to truly, I think, begin to impact outcomes in a more meaningful way,” Rivera explained. Women continue to remain underrepresented in clinical trials. Yet efforts to diversify the health care talent pool and incorporate differences in disease pathologies between biological sexes can help the sector progress. Improved data collection methods and more robust research efforts can also help. Adding women’s health to the narrative of common health care topics may also lay the foundation for better care. “Normalizing these stories is going to be an important next step for us if we want to continue to make advancements in this area,” said Childs.
