Well-Studied Women Make History: Women's Health Research and the Future of Medicine (with commentary by Arlene Ash)

• Activity Number: 281
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Health Policy Statistics Section
• Author(s): Karen Freund and Aimee R. Kroll-Desrosiers*+ and Arlene S. Ash
• Companies: Tufts University School of Medicine and University of Massachusetts Medical School, Dept. of Quantitative Health Sciences and University of Massachusetts Medical School
• Keywords: Women's Health Studies ; NIH Funding ; Personalized Medicine ; Sex-Specific Analysis ; Gender Disparities

Abstract

Prior to the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993, women could be, and often were, excluded from clinical studies with no need for justification. Now, health research cannot exclude women without cause, leading to greater inclusion of women in studies, and more analyses that test for sex differences in diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes of treatment for many common diseases. This presentation describes the history of exclusion and invisibility of women in health studies and the fight to get NIH funding for women's health research; progress in identifying sex differences in health; and how well-designed studies of sex-specific health issues can serve as a template for the statistics needed for personalized medicine.