The importance of sex and gender in medical research

The importance of sex and gender in medical research.

For many years it was widely assumed that the occurrence and outcome of disease was the same for women and men.

Our understanding was that studies involving only men would be equally relevant for women. In the last two decades however, it has been shown that this assumption is highly prejudice and can have a detrimental impact on the health of women.

It is, therefore, really important to incorporate a sex and gender research lens in medical research.

First, Kelly makes the important distinction between sex and gender and how this can impact medical diagnosis, treatment and outcomes. 

Then, she identifies how the incorporation of sex and gender into research has allowed for advancements across healthcare: Improved accuracy, avoiding misinterpretation, reduced unintentional bias and greater social equity to name a few.

In this presentation, Kelly Thompson refers to case studies to examine the differences in the interpretation of health data when examining through a sex and gender research lens.

The severity of disease, risk factors and treatment effectiveness are just a few of the reasons why this is so important.

Kelly encourages researchers to ensure gender diversity in the research team and to explain how sex and gender are accounted for in research applications moving forward.

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