For those of you who don’t remember seventh grade biology, we’re talking about the XY sex-determination system. Women have two of the same kind of sex chromosome (XX) and men have two distinct sex chromosomes (XY).
Sex often gets confused with gender. Sex is how an organism gets classified as male or female based on the chromosomal complement described above. Gender is a person’s self-representation as male or female or how that person is responded to by social institutions based on their gender presentation.
Gender also affects health, but it is not the same as sex differences in health. Gender differences center on the choices we make or are pressured to make in a social context. For example, it is more socially acceptable for men to smoke than women; and women are more comfortable discussing and seeking treatment for mood disorders. These social, behavioral variations can affect the incidence and course of disease.
Biological sex differences by contrast are rooted deeply in us at the physiological level, all the way down to the cells that make up our bodies.
For decades, there has been compelling evidence that biological sex differences are responsible for tremendous differences in the incidence, presentation, diagnosis and treatment of disease. This goes far beyond reproductive health, the areas of most obvious difference between the sexes. It affects cancer, heart disease, mental health, obesity – just about every major area of health.
Despite this, sex differences in health were long neglected by the scientific community. Traditionally, scientists studied male animals and men as representative examples of the species. Where females differed from males, the differences were labeled as “atypical” or “abnormal.”
About 20 years ago, some scientists began to pay serious attention to sex differences. Interest in this area really took off in 2001 when the Institute of Medicine declared that sex is a crucial biological variable that “should be considered when designing and analyzing studies in all areas and at all levels of biomedical and health-related research.”
Six years after the IOM validated the field of sex-based biology, scientists are gathering here this week for the first annual meeting of the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences. This new and unique scientific membership organization represents the coming of age of a discipline that is leading the charge to understand how and why women and men differ in so many areas of health.
Although they’re not dealing with sex as you most commonly think about it, their work is pretty exciting.
The study of sex differences promises to not only optimize therapies for patients, but to understand the fundamental principles of diseases – why they strike and how they develop, which are crucial steps in finding cures or preventing diseases before they occur.
Take heart disease, for example. It strikes women on average 10 years later than it strikes men, usually after menopause. Researchers think the sex hormone estrogen plays some sort of protective role for women prior to menopause, but they haven’t figured it out yet.
Imagine the progress we’ll make when that mystery is solved and we can apply the findings to all patients. It will mean longer, healthier lives for everyone, both male and female.
That’s the promise of sex differences research: a more complete understanding of human biology that delivers improved tools for the right preventive measures, the right diagnosis, the right therapy, and the best possible outcome for every patient.
It is an exciting thought, sexy even.
So, the next time you hear someone talking about sex and health, remember the scientists gathered here this week. They are laying a foundation for better health based on the biological traits that make us a woman or a man by answering questions about disease that are buried in our hormones in genes.
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On the Net:
Organization for the Study of Sex Differences: http://www.ossdweb.org
Society for Women’s Health Research: http://www.womenshealthresearch.org |
