Open Access
Subscription or Fee Access
Bikini Medicine: What are we Missing.
Abstract
Women’s health is not just the parts that are covered by a bikini more colorfully known as “boobs and tubes”. Females do have diseases, syndromes, and diagnoses that are directly related to female organs such as their breasts, ovaries, and uterus. However, there are many subtle and distinct differences in anatomy, physiology, and metabolism in body parts shared with men. Women’s hearts, brains, and hormones react differently to diagnostic tests, medications, and other treatments compared to men. Even though legislation calls for more females to be included in rigorous pharmaceutical, scientific, and medical device studies, there still are not enough females represented. These differences may literally cause disability, deformity, and even death for some women. Health forms routinely ask for sex and/or gender right next to the name, birthday, and address. There’s an excellent reason for that question: sex and gender play an essential role in healthcare provision and health outcomes. The definition of sex and gender according to the World Health Organization states that sex or sexual characteristics are biologically defined including chromosomes and reproductive organs. Gender is based on social and culturally constructed features such as self-perception and expression. Both sex and gender have an impact on healthcare access and treatment. Many people are aware that certain diseases and diagnoses are exclusive to one sex such as ovarian or prostate cancer. While that’s true, there are health care issues that affect both sexes but receive different treatment, sometimes radically so.
References
Hallam, L., Vassalo, A., Pinho-Gomes, A., Carcel, C., & Woodward, M. (2022). Does journal content in the field of women’s health represent women’s burden of disease? A review of publications in 2010 and 2020. Journal of Women's Health. Retrieved from: DOI: 10.1089/jwh.2021.0425
Hoffmann, D.E., & Tarzian, A.J. (2001). The girl who cried pain: a bias against women in the treatment of pain. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 29 (1), 13–27. Retrieved from: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=383803
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2022). Fast stats: Leading causes of death. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm
Leonard, E.A., & Marshall, R.J. (2018). Cardiovascular disease in women. Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice, 45 (1), 131–141. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
/
Mu, F., Rich-Edwards, J., Rimm, E.B., Spiegelman, D., & Missmer, S.A. (2016). Endometriosis and risk of coronary heart disease. Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, 9 (3), 257–264. Retrieved from https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.
002224
Bonkhoff, A.K., Schirmer, M.D., Bretzner, M., Hong, S., Regenhardt, R.W., Brudfors, M., ... & Rost, N.S. (2021). Outcome after acute ischemic stroke is linked to sex-specific lesion patterns. Nature communications, 12 (1), 1–14. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/
PMC8172535/
Kostopoulou, A., Zeljko, H. M., Bogossian, H., Ciudin, R., Costa, F., Heijman, J., ... & the DAS‐CAM participants—2017–2018. (2020). Atrial fibrillation‐related stroke in women: Evidence and inequalities in epidemiology, mechanisms, clinical presentation, and management. Clinical cardiology, 43 (1), 14–23. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC
/
Zeydan, B., Atkinson, E.J., Weis, D.M., Smith, C.Y., Gazzuola Rocca, L., Rocca, W.A., ... & Kantarci, O.H. (2020). Reproductive history and progressive multiple sclerosis risk in women. Brain Communications, 2 (2), fcaa185. Retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/braincomms/
article/2/2/fcaa185/5977090
Mosconi L, Rahman A, Diaz I, Wu X, Scheyer O, et al. (2018) Increased Alzheimer's risk during the menopause transition: A 3-year longitudinal brain imaging study. PLOS ONE 13 (12): e0207885. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207885
Mosconi L, Berti V, Guyara-Quinn C, McHugh P, Petrongolo G, et al. (2017) Perimenopause and emergence of an Alzheimer’s bioenergetic phenotype in brain and periphery. PLOS ONE 12 (10): e0185926. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0185926
Craig, M.C., Maki, P.M., & Murphy, D.G. (2005). The Women's Health Initiative Memory Study: findings and implications for treatment. The Lancet Neurology, 4 (3), 190–194. Retrieved from https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(05)01016-1/fulltext
Matyi, J.M., Rattinger, G.B., Schwartz, S., Buhusi, M., & Tschanz, J.T. (2019). Lifetime estrogen exposure and cognition in late life: the Cache County Study. Menopause (New York, NY), 26 (12), 1366. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7448538/
Kantarci, K., Tosakulwong, N., Lesnick, T.G., Zuk, S.M., Gunter, J.L., Gleason, C.E., ... & Miller, V.M. (2016). Effects of hormone therapy on brain structure: a randomized controlled trial. Neurology, 87 (9), 887–896. Retrieved from https://n.neurology.org/content/87/9/887.short
Valera, E.M., Joseph, A.L.C., Snedaker, K., Breiding, M.J., Robertson, C.L., Colantonio, A., ... & Bellgowan, P.S. (2021). Understanding traumatic brain injury in females: a state-of-the-art summary and future directions. The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 36 (1), E1–E17. Retrieved from doi: 10.1097/HTR.0000000000000652
Lauretta, R., Sansone, M., Sansone, A., Romanelli, F., & Appetecchia, M. (2018). Gender in endocrine diseases: Role of sex gonadal hormones. International journal of endocrinology, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6215564/
Zucker, I., & Prendergast, B.J. (2020). Sex differences in pharmacokinetics predict adverse drug reactions in women. Biology of sex differences, 11 (1), 1–14. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.
nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7275616/?report=reader
Hendriksen, L.C., van der Linden, P.D., Lagro-Janssen, A.L.M., van den Bemt, P.M.L.A., Siiskonen, S.J., Teichert, M., ... & Visser, L.E. (2021). Sex differences associated with adverse drug reactions resulting in hospital admissions. Biology of sex differences, 12 (1), 1–9. Retrieved from https://bsd.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13293-021-00377-0
Chu, T. (2014). Gender differences in pharmacokinetics. U.S. Pharmacist 39(9):40-43.Retrieved from https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/gender-differences-in-pharmacokinetics
Merz, C.N.B. (2011). The Yentl syndrome is alive and well. European heart journal, 32(11), 1313-1315. Retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article/32/11/1313/2398378
Samulowitz, A., Gremyr, I., Eriksson, E., & Hensing, G. (2018). “Brave men” and “emotional women”: A theory-guided literature review on gender bias in health care and gendered norms towards patients with chronic pain. Pain Research and Management, 2018. Retrieve from https://www.hindawi.com/journals/prm/2018/6358624/
Liu, K.A., & Dipietro Mager, N.A. (2016). Women’s involvement in clinical trials: historical perspective and future implications. Pharmacy Practice (Granada), 14 (1), 0–0. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4800017/
Moore, E.C. (1980). Woman and Health, United States, 1980 (Vol. 95, No. 5). US Government Printing Office. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2047050/
Dooley, E.M., Miller, M.K., & Clayton, A.H. (2017). Flibanserin: from bench to bedside. Sexual medicine reviews, 5 (4), 461–469. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28757356/
Crimmins, E.M., Shim, H., Zhang, Y.S., & Kim, J.K. (2019). Differences between men and women in mortality and the health dimensions of the morbidity process. Clinical chemistry, 65(1), 135-145. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6345642/
National Institute of Health (NIH). (ND). NIH inclusion outreach toolkit: How to engage, recruit, and retain women in clinical research. Retrieved from https://orwh.od.nih.gov/toolkit/recruitment/
history
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.