A scientific, economic and ethical reflection on women’s health history

While we come to the end of the history of female history and recognize their significant impact on society, we also have to talk about the health of women. Women in the United States had the Lowest life expectancy of 80 yearsCompared to women in other countries with a high income. Women also had the highest percentage of avoidable deaths.

I have previously written in this column why we should make women’s health a priority here and here. In honor of this year’s Women’s History, it is important to understand and acknowledge the history of research into the health of women Should we not do that Leave the progress we have made, but we must also continue to insist on research and practice that improves our knowledge about the health problems of women from pregnancy to menopause and beyond.

Continuing to prioritize a robust health agenda for women is the Scientific, economically and ethically good to do.

The scientific reason.

When you look at a timeline of clinical and public health research, the focus on women’s health is relatively new. Although the National Institutes of Health, for example, was founded in 1887, it was only established in 1990 that a dedicated office for the research of women in the field of women was created.

Women are biologically different from men. Women experience diseases differently. Cardiovascular disorders is a good example. Studies show that The menopause is mainly increasing The risk of a woman on heart conditions, especially for those who go early in the menopause. A statistics among younger women, 35 to 44 years old, shows that the death rates of the heart conditions have risen by 1.3% annually between 1997 and 2002.

Moreover, there has been an important change in the population demography of pregnant women in the last two decades, resulting in a Higher number of pregnant women with cardiovascular disease. Guidelines for treating heart conditions come from studies that were carried out in the nineties and almost exclusively in men.

The burden of a stroke takes place along a similar plane. Stroke is the third cause of death in women and kills more women than men. Women have unique risk factors for stroke, including high blood pressure during pregnancy, using certain types of contraceptive drugs and having higher depression speeds.

Before the adoption of the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act of 1993, which required adequate representation of women in clinical investigations, women were largely under -represented in clinical research funded by NIH. The admission of women in Tasting was only a recommendation for that. However, progress has been made to close that big gap in gender representation in clinical studies. Today women would make almost half of the clinical examinations, but some studies place this number lower.

A Study conducted in 2022 Determined that in more than 1,400 tests, including around 302,000 participants, on average 41.2% were female, but with remarkable differences in female representation per test. The study concluded that for each analyzed therapeutic area the participation of women in clinical studies did not arise for the benchmark that was derived from national ruling data.

Insufficient involvement of women can have a negative influence on the value of a clinical study, which leads to unreliable data on how women will respond to drug treatment.

The economic reason.

The number of women participating in the labor force has surpassed the pre-Pandemic levels, by around 2 million women, and is 79 million. And in 2022, Female students formed 57.9% Of all postsecundary registration, with the assumption that they come up with our future workforce. Although women have introduced the workforce at historically higher rates, there are still gaps for many reasons. Of course, an important cause is the lack of affordable childcare, but what about the lack of accommodations in the workplace and the policy on the health needs of women? For example, there is very little research into the consequences of the menopausal on women in the workplace, and even fewer laws and policy about menopause in the workplace.

The US Department of Labor shows that a large proportion of women in the workforce is at the age in which menopause starts, 45 to 54 (75.2%) and 55 to 64 (59.6%). A cost analysis of menopausal symptoms that applied to the total population of women in the US in the US aged 45 to 60 years resulted in approximately $ 1.8 billion a year For lost work productivity. This did not include reduced working hours, loss of employment, early retirement or changing job.

Real biological symptoms, including lack of sleep, brain mist, weight gain and mood fluctuations are often symptoms that are brushed aside but a considerable burden for women and their productivity.

It’s a matter of ethics.

Simply put, women form half the population of the country. There is every scientific and biological reason why clinical researchers should approach women with a different lens. Although progress has been made when processing sex as a biological variable, financing and resources must continue to be prioritized for women’s health. If half of the population suffers from debilitating, to prevent chronic diseases and the developed therapeutic interventions are based on an accurate representation of the population, I would expect that we would like to do better.

We should not only attach importance to the history of women (and health) Once a year we have to constantly talk about this in the workplace, with our families, our chosen officials, our public health practitioners and, more importantly, with each other.

Women’s health is not a taboo subject. We form the basis of this country and we must be healthy to make this nation strong. The more we continue to conduct these conversations, argue for new research and public health programs and make women’s health into a financed and critical priority, the more progress we make a healthier, happier and more productive country.