Are you aware of the fact that the large gender gap in the research restricts our knowledge regarding the difference between women and men health? What we need to know is that women and men are different at the cellular level. Well, this means that the diseases and the treatments may affect both the sexes differently.
Now, the real dilemma is that women get excluded from the research studies due to different reasons. It is important to realise that women need to be a part of research studies especially those funded by the Government.
Understanding How the Research Gap Affects Real Life
Cardiovascular disease is the major disease that strikes the women of the US. The significant thing to understand about this disease is that it affects the women and men differently. Even the risk factors differ. However, if we look at the research studies, then only one-third of the cardiovascular clinical trials include the women.
Similarly, if we assess the anxiety and depression issues, then one thing can be said for sure. Women are more prone to this problem, but the clinical trials fall short here as well. We can roughly approximate that about 45% of the clinical trial studies on depression and anxiety make use of the female lab animals. The truth is that 45% is a trivial number.
If approximately 1.5 million people have Alzheimer’s, then we can safely state that two-thirds of this number is of women. Now, the question is why the women get excluded from the clinical trials. Well, the simple reason is that it is an assumption that women live longer.
Why Women Should Be A Part of Clinical Trials
The important thing to understand is that if women are part of more clinical trials, then this can help to broaden the spectrum regarding diseases and medicine. The good news is that researchers have now started to realise that including women in the clinical trials can make a difference and lead to a better outcome.
For example, many factors influence Alzheimer’s. Hormonal changes also have a role to play in this disease. The painful reality is that many other diseases are more common among women.
For example, lung cancer tends to affect the non-smoking women as well. The researchers figured out that the sex hormones have a role to play in this, and women produce the hormone estrogen. It can lead to the early development of lung cancer.
Since the researchers started including women in the clinical trials, they realised that some of the lung cancer treatments work better for women.
At the same time, it is essential to create awareness in women especially the minorities. The women should be eager to become a part of those trials because it will lead to long-term benefits. The positive side of the picture is many paid clinical studies are also in progress to benefit the health of the men and women alike. Let us hope that we come across more such clinical trials that focus on the health of women.