A new national centre dedicated to addressing gender inequities in medical care and clinical research has been set up in a collaboration led by UNSW Sydney.
The Centre for Sex and Gender Equity in Health and Medicine will challenge the ‘one-size-fits-all’ male-centric approach to medical care, according to its backers.
They say there is a long-standing misconception that medicine and the research underpinning medical interventions is gender neutral, when in fact many research studies still overlook the important roles that sex and gender have in risk, detection and treatment for many major diseases.
This male-centric bias results in significant disadvantage for women and girls, people with variations of sex characteristics (intersex people), trans and gender-diverse people, according to Professor Robyn Norton, Founding Director of The George Institute for Global Health and Professor of Public Health at UNSW Sydney.
“More than 70% of participants in early-stage clinical trials are white men, with male cells and male animals used as standard in the laboratory,” she noted.
“When these results are generalised to women, intersex, trans and gender-diverse people, we see long delays in diagnosis and intervention, inappropriate treatment or dosing, different responses to medicines and devices, and dismissal of pain or other symptoms,” she continued.
“This historical focus almost exclusively on the male means other populations have been understudied. Viewing trial protocols and analysis through a sex- and gender-sensitive lens can improve outcomes across the board.”
The centre is an initiative of The George Institute for Global Health, the Australian Human Rights Institute at UNSW Sydney, and Deakin University, Victoria, with support from collaborative partners, the Victorian Department of Health and the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI).
Advocacy role
The partners say that through world-class research and advocacy, the Centre will address the underlying, binary sex and gender bias in health and medicine that leads to poorer health outcomes, evidence gaps and inefficient health spending for women and girls, intersex people, trans and gender-diverse people, and in some cases men and boys.
“While women typically live longer than men, research shows they are more likely to encounter bias when it comes to addressing health-related issues across the course of their life,” said Alfred Deakin Professor Rachel Huxley, Executive Dean for the Faculty of Health at Deakin University.
“Women’s health research and services often focus only on their sexual, reproductive, and maternal health, rather than understanding how the leading causes of death and disability such as heart disease, dementia, and stroke, are experienced and best treated.