Chapter 6: Strengthen the role and impact of ill health prevention

When they asked their communities about the most important requirement for living a healthy life, Healthwatch services across the North East consistently found the most common answer was 'access to the help and treatment I need when I want it'. In Gateshead, County Durham, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland, 'professionals that listen to me when I speak about my concerns' was the second most popular answer.
(Healthwatch. (2022). Engagement Report for NHS Long Term Plan. What would you do? It's your NHS. Have your say. Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham.)

To have 'access to help and treatment I need when I want it' requires the medical and research field to know what the best treatment should be. Researchers argue that women are routinely under-represented in clinical trials and that medical research proposed by women, for women, is not allotted the same funding as medical research proposed by men, for men.
(Criado-Perez C (2020). Medically invisible women part one: Caroline Criado-Perez at Digital Health Rewired.)

Without the scientific evidence, assumptions are made that similar medical treatments will work for both sexes. However, Professor Zucker found that women were more likely than men to suffer adverse side effects of medications because drug dosages have historically been based on clinical trials conducted for men.
(Zucker I & Prendergast BJ (2020). Sex differences in pharmacokinetics predict adverse drug reactions in women. Biology of sex differences. 11. Article No: 32)

Given that research has focused on how men react to a health condition, Dr Austin-Clayton argues that 'we literally know less about every aspect of female biology compared to male biology'. As such, women are more likely to be misdiagnosed.
(Austin-Clayton J (2014). Health researchers will get $10.1 million to counter gender bias in studies. New York Times)

An example of this is what is commonly recognised as the classic symptom for heart attacks: a pain in the chest and down the left arm. Although the most common symptoms and signs are the same for both men and women, women can sometimes experience a variety of less 'typical' symptoms including nausea, indigestion, fatigue and dizziness.
(Temple Health. (2020). Heart Attack Symptoms: Are they Different for Men and Women. (opens new window) )

Such misclassification of symptoms can result in worse health outcomes for women.

Less is known about conditions that only affect women, including common gynaecological conditions that can have severe impacts on health and wellbeing. Nationally, it takes on average seven to eight years for women to receive a diagnosis of endometriosis, with 40% of women needing 10 or more GP appointments before being referred to a specialist. Less than 2.5% of publicly funded research is dedicated to reproductive health, even though approximately one in three women will experience reproductive health problems.
(Endometriosis UK. (2022). Endometriosis Facts and Figures.)
(Endometriosis UK. (2022). Endometriosis awareness month launches to tackle the fact 54% don't know about Endometriosis.)
(Public Health England. (2018). Survey reveals women experience severe reproductive health issues.)
(UKCRC. (2015). UK Health Research Analysis 2014.)