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The gender health gap is real. Although women have a longer life expectancy than men, they often experience worse health outcomes. This inequity partially stems from the "gender research gap," or the historic exclusion of women from medical research, which unfortunately affects women to this day. But it's not just the gender factor. Across the world, women from minority groups receive a lower standard of care and are often underdiagnosed in comparison to white women, which sometimes has fatal consequences.
From overly male-dominated clinical trials to the lack of female crash test dummies, what are some of the most significant examples of the gender health gap? Click on to find out.
A 2017 report by the FDA on global clinical trial participation found that women represented 43% of participants between 2015 and 2016. While the number may sound relatively balanced, there's more to it.
A 2018 study in the British Journal of Pharmacology revealed that while this gender balance existed in the phase 2 and phase 3 trials, in phase 1 trials women represented only 22% of participants.
This means that even when the drugs being tested were designed to treat diseases more common in women than men, women were still highly underrepresented.
In 2001, an audit of 10 prescription drugs, withdrawn from the US market for safety reasons between 1997 and 2001, revealed that 80% presented a greater risk to women than men.
According to the Government Accountability Office, some drugs get pulled out of the market after their adverse side effects show up with more widespread use.
A 2015 Medicare CAHPS survey investigated how quickly patients accessed appointments and care. They were asked to rate their experience out of 100, and the difference between races was more than 10% in some cases.
In the US, white women reported an average score of 73.9%, black women 68.3%, Asian and Pacific Islander women 63.1%, and Hispanic women 69.1%. The survey included access to urgent care, appointments for checkups, and routine care.
Ambien is a medication often used to treat insomnia. Following the drug's approval in 1993, the FDA investigated 26 years of data, and found 66 examples of complex sleep behaviors associated with the drug. In 2019, they released a black box label warning.
At the recommended dosage, blood levels with Ambien were significantly higher in women than in men, 25% compared with 33%. According to the FDA, this was especially concerning considering a higher risk of next-day driving impairment. Since 2013, the dosage has now been amended.
Because crash test dummies are based on a male body, it may contribute to higher female mortality from car accidents due to safety equipment not being tailored to women’s anatomy.
Even car crashes aren't suffered equally. According to a 2013 US Department of Transportation report, women are 17% more likely than men to die in a car accident. A 2017 report by the Traffic Injury Prevention revealed that even when wearing a seatbelt, the chances of a woman getting seriously injured in a frontal collision are 73% higher than a man's.
In 2022, researchers in Sweden engineered a crash test dummy modeled on the average woman. But even so, there are still no legal requirements for governments to test with a variety of crash test dummies.
According to a 2008 report in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine, women's pain is not as likely to be treated as men's. The report revealed that women were 13% to 25% less likely to receive opioids in the emergency room, despite experiencing the same pain level as men.
A 2021 study revealed that when men and women express the same amount of pain, women's pain is considered less intense based on gender stereotypes.
This particular case from the '50s changed the way medication was tested and how clinical trials were run thereafter. Thalidomide was a sedative that was often used for other purposes, including the treatment of colds and morning sickness in pregnancy. It was developed in Germany and widely marketed in dozens of countries. However, it was rejected by the FDA due to safety reasons.
Initially, the drug was widely used in pregnancy, but it was later linked to serious birth defects. When Thalidomide was eventually taken off the market, an estimated 10,000 babies had been born with defects as a result of the drug, ranging from missing limbs to brain damage.
Thalidomide is now used in the treatment of inflammatory diseases, such as HIV and cancer. It's prescribed today with much more caution, and never to pregnant women.
According to research published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2021, black women are five times more likely to die from pregnancy-related cardiomyopathy and blood pressure disorders than white women.
Obstetric hemorrhage and obstetric embolism were also more likely to kill black women than white women. Maternal death is classed as death during pregnancy and up to 42 days postpartum.
The FDA initially approved troglitazone, marketed as Rezulin, in 1997 for treatment of type 2 diabetes. However, in 2000 it was recalled by the FDA after it was linked to an increased risk of liver failure, which mostly affected women.
Around 67% of the reported cases of acute liver failure were associated with troglitazone usage in women. And at least 24 cases were reported before the drug was recalled.
The organ damage progressed rapidly, with patients going from normal liver function to irreversible liver damage within the space of a month. Only 11 women recovered without liver transplantation.
Some people experience life-threatening ventricular arrhythmia when taking a combination of certain drugs, such as antihistamines, antibiotics, and antimalarials.
However, a 2021 study revealed that women are more than twice as likely as men to develop these drug-induced arrhythmias.
To address the issues raised through the gender health gap, governments need to focus their attention on a number of areas.
Healthcare providers need to ensure that women feel comfortable talking about their health.
Women need to feel that they're in a supportive environment, and that they're being listened to.
Inequalities need to be tackled, and services should be accessible for women to meet their needs throughout every stage of their lives.
More women need to be represented in all the stages of research trials. This will ensure research reflects society better and that women don't suffer more from side effects.
Sources: (Live Science) (Forbes) (Time)
See also: The biggest women’s health myths
The gender health gap: times medicine failed women
From minimizing pain to lack of research
HEALTH Women's health
The gender health gap is real. Although women have a longer life expectancy than men, they often experience worse health outcomes. This inequity partially stems from the "gender research gap," or the historic exclusion of women from medical research, which unfortunately affects women to this day. But it's not just the gender factor. Across the world, women from minority groups receive a lower standard of care and are often underdiagnosed in comparison to white women, which sometimes has fatal consequences.
From overly male-dominated clinical trials to the lack of female crash test dummies, what are some of the most significant examples of the gender health gap? Click on to find out.