Is US Medical Research equal between men and women? Why or why not?

Question

This article's title brought up an interesting point "Women's Medical Needs Are Vastly Different Than Men's": http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071119170125.htm

Since women have more hormonal fluctations and that takes more training to research, the majority of medical research has been performed using primarily male subjects. But can't we overcome hormonal differences in this day and age? What other reasons would there be for not using female subjects?

According to the article:
"Women wake sooner from anesthesia, have less familiar symptoms of cardiovascular disease and are more likely to suffer from depression and sleep problems-- just to name a few of the differences."

What could be the effects of applying medical research performed on men, and applying it to women? I hear from some masculinists that men's health needs are being ignored, but is that an exaggeration, if men are still being used as the subject for the majority of US medical research studies?

Answer 1

historically, research has focused on white men and have applied the findings to minorities and women.

research neglected women b/c of our reproductive abilities, but that's a generalization and it has caused us harm.

science has found that diseases affect groups differently. women and men have differnet symptoms of heart attack, blacks have MUCH higher rates of prostate cancer than whites, some jewish groups have a gene for passing on breast cancer.

blacks have lower rates of clinical trial participation b/c of a lack of trust in the medical establishment. their trust has been betrayed in the past - ie, the tuskegee trial where men with syphillus were not given penicillin b/c the researches wanted to see the effects of the disease.

so - lack of participation has historical factors. probably similar for women - we've been neglected so we don't think about (little awareness) of pariticipating. i don't think it has anything to do with taking risks. i've entered trials. i think many women would consider helpful to humanity and participate. time and childcare could be barriers to participation too.

in regard to prostate cancer vs. breast cancer - other than these being cancers for each sex that receive different funding - is there a reason for this debate? men with prostate cancer are in their 70s and often die WITH prostate cancer not OF it. women are typically in their 60s and it's more difficult & often involves chemo. Other than picking a "gender war" i have not seen valid reasons for this comparison. often the men involved have no idea about prostate cancer, no idea how many blacks it affects, no idea its a slow growing cancer, no idea how they want to see funding spent, etc. - show me this info, i will take the claims seriously, otherwise it's just a gender battle to me - an "equality with a vengeance" type attitude. men also want the violence against women act to give 1/2 the funding to men - again, there is no evidence for the need of splitting it 50/50 when it does not affect the genders 50/50 (although some make false claims of it doing so).

in regard to birth control - most researchers are male. my male professor told me in my reproductive physiology class that it would be extremely difficult to make a birth control pill fo rmen b/c there are so many sperm. he was proven wrong, b/c they are developing one.

it goes without saying that research on women's reproductive system will be higher than males. on the other hand, the research on violence is extremely tilted towards males.

hopefully, society will get research balanced so that it helps all of humanity but to do so it should be based on facts - not ideaology

Answer 2

I'm interested in the part that said: "One reason researchers have shied away from using women in studies is their fluctuating hormones" "Hormones are complex, but they can be taught," Woodruff said.

Of course you may not feel comfortable taking some drugs that were tested with me and my raging hormones but that is something that can be and should be screened in clinical trials.

I think women's fluctuating hormones is a more often a excuse or rationalisation than a legitimate reason in most medical research, actually. In some kinds of research it simply is not a factor and in some kinds of research such as clinical trials it can be controlled for. And Hello! Men's hormones fluctuate too!

Unfortunately there is also a problem in the US with medical research that women's health is more about maintenance than men's health is. Medical research in the US focuses most on finding a fix and it probably does not reflect the obvious differences in health needs as much as it should. I believe this is the biggest cause of problems in medical research and women in the US.

And I don't think it will much improve soon with the way healthcare in the US is. :(

Answer 3

I think that is has in the past. I believe the medical research has come along way for women. I believe know some thing for men have been over looked . Breast Cancer effects both Women and Men. Think it could be you, your Sister, your Mother, Wife, or your Daughter. The same is true for Prostate Cancer it effects Men and Women. Think it could be you (if you are a male) , your Father , Brother , Husband. The men do need research and fundraiser that every ones knows About. Men need support to.

I have a website on prostate caner.

http://www.psa-rising.com/ribbons

Answer 4

Good question and article.

I don't think it's equal for the same reason as that article mentions. But also sometimes it favors women over men.

For example, after 100s of years of research, women now have dozens of ways to help with family planning via medicated birth control. They have pills, patches, shots, implants, rings and soon even candy chewables. Men still have NO options of medicated birth control.

Same deal goes for minorities. Most medicated and over the counter products are only tested and designed for Caucasians. I never realized this till I tried to find a Band-Aid to match brown skin...you can't cause they only create the bandage colors for white skin. Sounds stupid, yet it's true.

Answer 5

Generally I believe it is, except that the doses of medicine are different for both men, women and children. Now we are getting some proper research on female heart disease, and different types of lung cancer.

Answer 6

I think it depends on the type of medical issue.Heart ,lung and sports injurys I think men have definetly benifitted from the research.Breast cancer and reproductive health Women have gotten the most help with.

Answer 7

I think it's the latter. I think they are doing more (good) for female research.

Answer 8

It also must vary with race. The concept of gender equality and racial equality are quite recent, so give it a few more years and we'll have separate hospital wings.

Answer 9

well, I know there is a ton of fundraisers for Breast Cancer, and I can't remember a single one for prostrate cancer ...

Human (clinical) trials aim to have equal number of male and female subjects.
But since subjects are volunteers, and women do not like taking chances as much as men do, I would not be surprised that less women end up in the trials.

Finally, since women tend to care more about their health (i.e. spend more), I am pretty sure that female-oriented drugs receive at least as much attention as male ones.

Answer 10

Thank you for sharing this interesting article - which speaks for itself.