As a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Committee on the Assessment of Women's Health Research at NIH, Dr. Bird provided her expertise to a new report that offers key policy recommendations to bridge significant disparities in women’s health research at NIH.
The committee recommends Congress elevate the Office of Research on Women’s Health to form a new institute with primary responsibility to lead, conduct and support research on female physiology and chromosomal differences, reproductive milestones and female-specific conditions, not already covered by an NIH institute.
This is essential Dr. Bird says because “the impact of not knowing how to treat women is tremendous and costly. What we learn by studying women will help us understand human health.”
Since researchers have barely begun to understand the complexities of sex differences in health and have neglected research on many female-specific conditions, the report says the funding needed to bring the knowledge base to a level on par with that of other research areas is significant — and the research will take decades.
The report suggests Congress appropriate $15.7 billion in new funding over the next five years to invest in women’s health and sex differences research—essentially doubling the current NIH annual investment in women’s health research.
“Fundamental questions about women’s health remain unaddressed by current research,” says Dr. Bird. With millions of women affected by conditions such as endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome and uterine fibroids, clear guidance and innovative interventions to manage these often-debilitating conditions is not available.
Significant knowledge gaps also exist for women’s health across their lifespan — including the health effects of menopause, or how complications during pregnancy are associated with the risk of developing chronic conditions later in life. Although women have a lower prevalence of cardiovascular disease than men, they face worse prognoses after heart attacks or strokes and scientists’ understanding of the reasons behind this difference is limited.
“Historically, health research has treated women as if they were small men,” says Dr. Bird. “Yet, the more we study variations between the sexes, the more complicated it is.” The list of differences in diseases between the sexes is long; women have a stronger immune response than men increasing their risk of autoimmune disorders. “Women also have more and often different comorbidities than men,” she says.
Dr. Bird hopes this study will spur investment in research that creates meaningful change in women’s health. “The possibility of improving our understanding of and ability to improve human health is exciting.”
