Panel urges more research on women and chronic diseases

Research into chronic conditions affecting women is significantly lacking, and the National Institutes of Health and other agencies should do more to investigate issues that lead to worse medical treatment for women, a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine says.

Women are disproportionately affected by chronic illnesses, including Alzheimer’s disease and depression, according to the study requested by NIH’s Office of Research on Women’s Health and published Wednesday.

But inadequate research in women’s health “hinders a comprehensive understanding of the impact on women” of these and other chronic illnesses, the report’s authors write. Further research is needed, particularly for Black women, who are more likely to die of a chronic illness than White women, the study says.

The 500-page report calls for focused efforts, led by NIH, to enhance diagnostic tools for female-specific conditions such as endometriosis and to distinguish between overlapping symptoms of various chronic conditions.

Farida Sohrabji, one of the report’s authors, said she hopes that the paper will guide urgent research priorities.

“One of the biggest frustrations is how often we [saw] examples where women were not incorporated into research, where women’s experiences and symptoms were undermined or not given enough attention,” said Sohrabji, the director of women’s health in the neuroscience program at Texas A&M University. “One of the things that comes up quite often is that [women] are aware that their health is sometimes not given appropriate consideration, and their experience of pain is minimized.”

Emphasizing the importance of addressing racial, ethnic and socio-economic disparities, Sohrabji said the experiences of White women and women of color vary drastically but are not addressed adequately in research.

The report underscores the impact of biology and social factors in the diagnosis and management of chronic conditions while calling attention to the research deficiencies concerning female-specific and gynecologic conditions and the influence of social determinants of health on chronic conditions.

The experts highlight the necessity for improved diagnostic tools tailored for chronic conditions in women, noting distinct differences in symptom presentation for women and men, such as heart disease and diabetes. Experts say women’s diseases may present uniquely, potentially leading to misdiagnosis when using tools primarily designed for male patients.

A 2019 research letter published in JAMA found that NIH gives more research money to first-time male grantees than their female peers. The letter argued that federal research funding is associated with the quality of science and career advancement.

“If there were something that affected a large percentage of men as [some of the diseases that affect] women, we would know exactly what causes it, and then we would have more treatments and diagnostics,” said Karen Tang, a gynecologist and author who was not involved in the report.