Increased Attention to Women's Health Research Has Yielded Gains on Some Important Conditions, but Progress Lags on Others

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new report from the National Academy's Institute of Medicine concerted effort to boost research on women's health over the last two decades has lessened the burden of disease and reduced deaths among women due to cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, and cervical cancer, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine.  The effort has yielded less but still significant progress in reducing the effects of depression, HIV/AIDS, and osteoporosis on women, added the committee that wrote the report.  

However, several health issues important to women have seen little progress, including unintended pregnancy, autoimmune diseases, alcohol and drug addiction, lung cancer, and dementia.  Overall, fewer gains have been made on chronic and debilitating conditions that cause significant suffering but have lower death rates, pointing to the need for researchers to give quality of life similar consideration as mortality for research attention.  Moreover, barriers such as socio-economic and cultural influences still limit the potential reach and impact of research developments, especially among disadvantaged women.  

The gains that have been made reflect the effects of requirements for researchers to include women in studies, an influx of resources from public and private stakeholders, and multifaceted research approaches that tackled the conditions from several fronts for a fuller understanding of each condition, the committee concluded.  

Historically, researchers recruited women to clinical studies less often than men in part because of ethical concerns about potential fetal exposure to experimental substances; the flux of hormones in women's bodies, which could complicate studies; and the assumption that results of studies on men could be extrapolated to women.  However, trial results were not necessarily applicable or consistently applied to women, as demonstrated by the unequal use of stents, beta blockers, and cholesterol-lowering drugs to treat heart disease in women.  Moreover, the symptoms and courses of diseases in males do not always correspond to what happens in females.  

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, copies of Women's Health Research: Progress, Pitfalls, and Promise are available at http://www.nap.edu.  

A VIDEO WEBCAST of the public briefing to be held at 11 am EDT on Sept. 23 at http://national-academies.org.  Archived video will be available afterwards.

SOURCE National Academy's Institute of Medicine