Aside from obvious physical characteristics — the indispensable need for a new pair of shoes or indulging in the latest Cosmo quiz — does female biology differ enough from men’s to warrant separate research and comparative analysis?
Dr. Ann M. Gronowski, a professor of pathology, immunology, obstetrics and gynecology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, says yes.
“Women have a unique physiology and set of health conditions that arise from complex reproductive organs as well as pregnancy. Women also differ in their risk for developing some diseases common to both men and women and how they respond to that disease and treatment can be unique to their sex,” she said.
Gronowski and colleagues penned the forward article for a special edition of Clinical Chemistry. The article showcases a collection of nearly 50 recent key studies and expert opinion articles looking at how shared health issues manifest differently in males and females.
The special issue, called Advancing Women's Health, casts a light on how those uniquely female differences might be incorporated into screening, treatment and monitoring to enhance outcomes. It looks at the current state of women’s health care as well.
“Until recently, much of the medical literature that was published focused predominantly on male populations. Slowly, over the last century – and specifically since 1993 – researchers have come to appreciate the differences in normal physiology, as well as disease pathology, between men and women,” Gronowski said.
Researchers have found that these hardwired differences matter.
While both sexes may have a similar probability of being diagnosed with a particular health condition or disease, all things are not equal. The age range at which the condition manifests, risk factors, response to treatment and social and economic dynamics, are just a few areas that differ significantly between men and women.
• Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death for U.S. men (25.2 percent) of and women (24 percent) according to 2009 CDC figures, but it tends to be under-diagnosed and under-treated in women, compared to men. Researchers are examining to see whether using different criteria for women and men when analyzing blood tests might resolve the problem.
• The risk factors for cardiovascular disease — blood pressure, total and HDL cholesterol, Type II diabetes, and smoking — are the same for both sexes but the level of that risk substantially differs between the sexes. One landmark study found women have a significantly higher risk for coronary heart disease associated with diabetes compared to men.
Likewise, another large study found that the relative risk of cardiovascular disease for current smokers when compared to nonsmokers was 25 percent higher in women than men. So although more men smoke, women have a much larger burden of smoking-related disease.
• The age when cardiovascular disease is most likely to strike differs between the sexes. Researchers observed that cardiovascular disease most commonly manifests in women between ages 65 and 74, a rate similar to men who are 10 years younger (55-64).
• Before age 80, men are slightly more prone to suffering a stroke than women, however women have a higher lifetime risk of stroke than men, 6.3 percent vs. 4.3 percent, respectively. Researchers aren’t exactly sure what all the reasons are as to why a women’s risk escalates with age and a man’s declines. Gronowski said that a woman’s longer life expectancy contributes to the overall risk.
• Cancer is the second leading cause of death in both men and women, with lung cancer causing most malignancy-related deaths. The American Cancer Society’s Cancer Facts and Figures show that in 2012, the most commonly diagnosed cancers in women were breast, lung and bronchus, colorectal followed by uterine, while prostate, lung, colorectal, then bladder cancer topped the list for men.
• A woman’s risk of developing cancer before the age of 60 is higher than a man’s, due to breast cancer, which accounted for 3 in 10 of all new cancer cases among women in 2012. Two new studies in the special issue uncover promising new biological molecules, called circulating peptides, that may increase early diagnosis, and provide better, noninvasive prediction measures for breast cancer, possibly reducing relapse in newly-diagnosed cancer patients.
• Women — especially married women and mothers in their childbearing and rearing years — are almost twice as likely to suffer from major depression as men. Psychological problems, such as depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, are among the top 10 chronic diseases affecting women.
“People often ask me why we need to study women. I tell them addressing women’s health can ultimately help better address men’s health too,” Gronowski said. “In addition, more research is needed to understand these differences so that women’s screening, treatment, and health monitoring may be optimized.”
Lynette Summerill is an award-winning writer and watersport junkie living in San Diego with her husband and two beach dogs. In addition to writing about cancer-related issues for EmpowHER, her work has been seen in publications internationally.
Sources:
Interview with Dr. Ann E. Gronowski. 15 January 16, 2014.
What’s Different about Women’s Health? Ann M. Gronowski, JoAnn E. Manson, Elaine R. Mardis, Samia Mora, and Catherine Y. Spong. Clinical Chemistry 2014; v. 60, p.1-3.
http://www.clinchem.org/content/60/1.toc
CVD Risk Prediction in Women: Is there a role for novel biomarkers? Nina P. Paynter, Brenda M. Everett, Nancy R. Cook. Clinical Chemistry 60:1 88–97 (2014).
Tumor Microenvironment–Released Peptides: Could They Form the Basis for an Early-Diagnosis Breast Cancer Test? Eleftherlos P. Diamandis. Clinical Chemistry 2014; v. 60, p.4-6. Published November 6, 2013.
Cancer Facts and Figures 2012. American Cancer Society.
http://www.cancer.org/research/cancerfactsfigures/cancerfactsfigures/cancer-facts-figures-2012
Reviewed January 16, 2014
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith