Women Bear Brunt of Chronic Illness, Yet Research Lags: Report

Women Bear Brunt of Chronic Illness
Women Bear Brunt of Chronic Illness. Credit | Shutterstock

United States: As per the latest reports, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine stated that there is a significant dearth of research in areas related to chronic conditions that affect women.

It is urged that bodies such as the National Institutes of Health and other agencies invest more in issues that lead to worsening medical situations among women.

More about the finding

The study performed under the NIH’s Office of Research on Women’s Health showed that women are disproportionately affected by chronic illnesses, which include conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and depression, as published on Wednesday.

The study noted that improper research on women’s health “hinders a comprehensive understanding of the impact on women” of such chronic conditions.

Moreover, the study also pointed out that the research would need to especially focus on Black women, who are particularly more susceptible to dying from chronic illness than White women, as the Washington Post reported.

What more do the experts urge for?

A 500-page report, which was prepared by scientists led by NIH, focused on various ways to enhance the diagnosis of female-specific conditions like endometriosis and also to make a distinction between overlapping symptoms related to various chronic illnesses.

One of the authors of the report, Farida Sohrabji, hoped that the paper would guide appropriately to direct urgent priorities.

She said, “One of the biggest frustrations is how often we [saw] examples where women were not incorporated into research, where women’s experiences and symptoms were undermined or not given enough attention,” as the Washington Post reported.

Sohrabji, who is the director of women’s health in the neuroscience program at Texas A&M University, also mentioned, “One of the things that comes up quite often is that [women] are aware that their health is sometimes not given appropriate consideration, and their experience of pain is minimized.”

Need for female-specific focus – Experts

The report highlighted the need to emphasize the need for biology and social factors based on diagnosis and, therefore, to manage chronic conditions. Special focus should be taken to the current dearth areas in research on female-specific and gynecologic conditions, considering other social determinants of health on chronic conditions into account.

In 2019, a research letter was published in JAMA, which noted that NIH gives more financial approval to first-time male grantees than their female peers. Therefore, the letter highlighted the need for federal research to fund projects that concern the quality of science and career advancement.

Karen Tang, a gynecologist who was not involved in the report, said, “If there were something that affected a large percentage of men as [some of the diseases that affect] women, we would know exactly what causes it, and then we would have more treatments and diagnostics,” as the Washington Post reported.