Health research: sex-inclusive or non-sex-inclusive?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35830/mcya.vi26.640Keywords:
sexual dimorphism, gender equity, medical scienceAbstract
Many clinical trials have been conducted almost exclusively in men, and the underrepresentation of women could generate both biased data and negative implications for human health. Researchers argue that potential risks during lactation, pregnancy, and, in general, during reproductive age are justifications for excluding women from clinical trials. Moving from human studies to animal and cellular studies, there is no valid scientific reason to justify preclinical research in animal models or cell lines ignoring sex differences. Only recently the differences among sexes (sexual dimorphism) in rats have been highlighted, documenting differences in susceptibility to chronic pain, mood, stress, osteoporosis, resistance to punishment, as well as cyclical variations in female mammals that are not present in males. However, other studies show no differences between males and females in response to drugs. These results justify the inclusion of sex as a variable in health studies on humans, animals, and at the cellular level. This not only entails including men and women or males and females in research, but also taking into account genes, hormones, environment, and behavior for the methodological approach, analysis, and conclusions.
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