Clinical Trials Have More Male Patients Than Female Ones

A new study reveals that medical researchers are focusing primarily on male patients and their ignorance of gender equality in their research is putting women’s health at risk. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and George Washington University said that while researchers declare the results of their study as applicable to both men and women, most of the studies often include only male subjects. With many diseases affecting both men and women differently, the results often put women’s health at risk.

Pointing out some of the common studies being conducted, the researchers said that while women non-smokers were three times more likely to get cancer compared to their male counterparts, only a small number of women take part in lung cancer studies while 45 percent of animal studies on depression make use of male subjects even though women were twice as likely to struggle with the condition than men.

“Women are now routinely included in clinical trials, but we are far from achieving equity in biomedical research. For studies that already include women and female animals, reporting data by sex is critically important and that's not routinely done. We're not getting the value for our added research dollars”, lead researcher Dr Paula Johnson said.

Source-Medindia