Women Diagnosed Years Later than Men for Same Diseases

“For example, women are diagnosed later for heart disease, not only because it is still largely considered a ‘man’s disease’, but also because our diagnostic tests are male-biased, in terms in terms of ‘typical’ being the male presentation. All medical schools and healthcare training should emphasize both biological sex differences and gender biases so healthcare professionals are aware of unconscious biases.”

Bairey Merz agreed, adding that more research is needed to determine if the gender differences in age at diagnosis are “real” and whether they are linked to gender bias, actual biological sex differences or random error associations.

Reference

1. Westergaard D1, Moseley P, Sørup FKH, et al. Population-wide analysis of differences in disease progression patterns in men and women. Nat Commun. 2019 Feb 8;10(1):666. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-08475-9.