What the Science Really Says About Women’s Health

Science improves women’s health by replacing long-held myths and misconceptions with evidence-based knowledge – one by one. For example:

MYTH: Heart Attack is A ‘Man’s Disease’
SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE: Young women are protected from having a heart attack compared to men due to estrogen – except when they do have one, they are twice as likely to die in the first year after a heart attack than same-aged men. This is due to different biology of heart disease in men and women.

MYTH: Breast Cancer is the Leading Cause of Cancer Deaths for Women
SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE: Breast cancer disproportionately kills women. However, lung cancer is currently the leading cause of cancer-related death in women – more than breast, ovarian, and uterine cancers combined – and rates are alarmingly rising among never-smoking women. Women also have less benefit from radiation therapy used for lung cancer compared to men.

MYTH: Medications Work the Same in Men and Women
SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE: Women are 52% more likely to have side effects from the same dosage of medications used in men even after controlling for weight – e.g. GLP-1 receptor agonists show more weight loss in women and Zolpidem (Ambien) show more side effects.

These are few examples to illustrate the biggest myth of all about women’s health: women’s health ≠ reproductive health (e.g. pregnancy, breast diseases, gynecologic health).

Scientific and clinical evidence in fact shows that 95% of diseases that affect the lives of women are those that also affect men. By studying sex differences in diseases that affect women differently, disproportionately, or distinctly, we improve the lives of both women and men.

These misconceptions exist because, for decades, women were excluded from medical research driven by a number of factors: scientific assumptions, regulatory caution, institutional bias, and protection concerns. Thanks to the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993, women were mandated to be included in any clinical research funded by the federal government. As a result, research writ large has increasingly incorporated sex as a biological variable, which in turn has generated a tremendous amount of data about the health of women.

For instance, in the past 30 years we have learned:

• Women undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) have worse outcomes than men due to difference in biology and cannot be explained by function of age, more advanced disease, or being sicker at the time of surgery. Changing surgical techniques and more personalized post-operative care changes this pattern.
• Patients with BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations, even after treatment, remain at greater risk for new cancer recurrence and thus need more aggressive treatment approaches.
• Bipolar disorder presents differently in men and women, and researchers can observe these developmental differences through brain imaging. Knowing these differences can help earlier recognition of bipolar in young girls.
• COVID-19 mortality is higher among men, driven in part by sex-based immune response. This is true of other viral and bacterial infections as well – thus more vigilance is needed in men being treated for infections.
  
  

That is why Women’s Health Research at Yale continues to fund rigorous research to better understand the health of women by investigating diseases and disorders that affect women disproportionately – including autoimmune disorders, mental health, and Alzheimer’s – differently – like cardiovascular disease and cancer – and uniquely – such as endometriosis and preeclampsia.

May marks Women’s Health Month. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services curates National Women’s Health Week, and this year’s theme, “Prevention, Innovation, and Impact: A New Era in Women’s Health,” reflects a growing national focus on advancing the field. To us, Yale scientists, researchers, and clinicians play a role in all parts along the spectrum – creating new methods to screen for biomarkers, engineering a medical device to treat endometriosis closer to the source, and changing the lives of women suffering from Long COVID.

The discoveries highlighted above were all made at Yale, reflecting a sustained and unwavering commitment to achieve scientific discovery. With your support, I am confident that our robust Collaborative will continue to investigate our nation’s most pressing health challenges and, in turn, improve the lives of both women and men.