Research is one of the pivotal areas of academia. It is through research we understand and observe the world around us. Through research, we can form a new theory to understand the world that we live in, or, as it is better known, research is used to design new medical procedures and such.
However, when it comes to formulating new medicines or procedures, research has, historically, not done a good job of including the whole population—specifically, including both men and women in trials. Indeed, a study in 2022 of 86 randomly controlled trials found that women comprised only 37% of participants.
The lack of inclusion of both genders in research seems to follow a historical trend of a lack of interest in the medical needs of women along with a lack of understanding that, at some time, they are different from the needs of a man. However, the lack of participation may not necessarily be due to a lack of trying.
Lack of willingness to participate may also contribute to the small number of women participating in experiments. But whatever the reason, it is incredibly vital to understand why women must be included in studies and the deficits of research that lack this variety. In the 2022 study, only three of the studies even mentioned the lack of diversity within their trial subjects and its concurrent consequences.
There are a couple of differences between men and women that change the way that certain treatments affect them. For one, there are variations in hormone cycles between men and women. While male hormone cycles have a twenty-four-hour cycle, women have a twenty eight day cycle. And research has found that within various periods of the female hormone cycle, susceptibility to disease increases; moreover, some hormonal fluctuations can change the way drugs work within the body.
These hormonal changes have also been linked to why women experience Alzheimer’s more often. Without considering these effects, research regarding new treatments may not accurately display the effects of the treatment that would likely be used on everyone, regardless of gender. Only studying the effects of solutions, whether they be in the form of medicine or treatment, on men can create a major lack of knowledge regarding how women experience illness and disease.
Moreover, without studying the symptoms of certain diseases in both genders, diagnosis can then become a difficult task. An example of this can be found in differences in men’s and women’s cardiovascular health. Cardiovascular disease is one of the greatest threats to women, and yet only 31% of clinical trial subjects are female. Moreover, symptoms sometimes appear differently in men and women. Women are much more likely to present with atypical symptoms such as shortness of breath or nausea, symptoms that can potentially be misdiagnosed. Without understanding these differences, illnesses may be left untreated and cause great harm when they could be entirely preventable.
As mentioned before, there may be reasons beyond exclusion by researchers that cause a lack of female participants. So, we must begin by first addressing deficits any research may contain. Sometimes, there will be a lack of representation within an experiment, which must be addressed within the piece itself. At the end of the day, as the next generation of researchers, we must all make an active effort to have diversity, and not just with gender, within our research participants so we can properly understand wellness, illness and treatment in all bodies.