Sex-gender research sensitivity and healthcare disparities

Abstract

Authors Nieuwenhoven and Klinge (Journal of Women's Health 2010;19:1-6) argue that despite advances, sex and gender are not well treated in the biomedical literature. Many studies in which males and females are represented do not address the similarities or differences between sexes, sometimes adjusting for (thereby obscuring) sex differences and sometimes ignoring sex altogether. Women continue to be underrepresented in randomized drug trials, excluded from some by potential reproductive effects, and perhaps frightened from others by IRB-required warnings. Although recognized, sex disparities in treatment, for example, for acute cardiac syndrome, persist. As electronic abstracts become a prime means of communicating research results, they must adequately and accurately represent a study's findings.