What's Different about Women's Health?

Abstract

What's different about women's health? Does the biology of women differ enough from that of men to warrant separate studies and comparative analysis? Until recently, much of the medical literature that was published focused predominantly on male populations. Slowly, we have come to appreciate the differences in normal physiology, as well as disease pathology, between men and women. In this special issue, which focuses on “Advancing Women's Health,” we explore recent studies involving determinants and detection of health outcomes that uniquely affect women, as well as the differences in risk between males and females for shared diseases. Ann M. Gronowski For instance, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the US. According to the CDC, 25.2% of deaths in men and 24% of deaths in women in 2009 were attributable to heart disease (Table 1) (1, 2). CVD generally manifests clinically for women in the sixth decade of life. The widespread belief was that this was due to menopausal loss of estrogens and, hence, hormone replacement therapy would help to prevent heart disease. However, landmark studies from the Women's Health Initiative indicated that combined estrogen and progestin therapy actually increased the risk of heart disease, blood clots, and strokes, among other disorders! These risks were particularly high in older women. The incidence of stroke in women, although lower than that in men before the age of 80 years, thereafter exceeds the incidence in men. This results in a higher lifetime risk of stroke for women than men (6.3% vs 4.3%, respectively) (1, 2). CVD risk associated with diabetes and smoking is also higher in women than in men and is particularly concerning given the …