Medical research ignoring women: Report

Failing to account for the different effects a drug may have on men and women compromises quality of care for women, according to the report released this week.
 
The paper’s co-author and neurologist Cheryl Carcel told AAP the Federal Government needs to ensure sex and gender differences are included in future research.
 
Clinical trials ‘quite often’ do not report specific results for males and females, according to Dr Carcel. Drugs that may be effective for both men and women could cause worse side effects in women.
 
The report by Dr Carcel and Dr Zoe Wainer recommends health bodies, researchers and governments develop guidelines and regulations on the issue.
 
The paper also says researchers should get extra funding to ensure sex and gender data was included.
 
‘This is not simply a women’s or men’s health issue, but an issue for all Australians,’ they write.
 
Dr Carcel, a senior fellow at the George Institute for Global Health, said some medical research only tested male genes. She pointed to a HIV-treatment drug in the US that was approved only for men because researchers never tested it on women.
 
In Australia, Dr Carcel said they found women were not getting checked as much as men for cardiovascular disease risks.
 
Dr Carcel says funding bodies and medical journals should require the medical researchers deliver data on both men and women
 
Asked when all of this needs to happen, Dr Carcel simply says ‘yesterday’.
 
‘I don’t know why it’s taken Australia this long to get on board because it’s certainly been happening in other countries,’ she said.
 
‘So we are really lagging behind.’
 
Australian Associated Press

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