The medical community, from basic scientists to practicing physicians, conducts research studies to answer specific questions about health. Clinical trials are an important part of medical research and one of the last steps in developing new therapies. They involve human volunteers who allow themselves to be studied so that we can better understand how diseases progress and how they respond to treatments.

In the past, participants in medical research studies were predominantly men, as it was falsely assumed that men and women would react similarly to treatments. Scientists also believed that the bodies of women and men were the same, except for their reproductive organs.

As time elapsed, our understanding of sex and gender in medicine has evolved. We have come to learn that many conditions and diseases affect men and women differently. And we recognize that certain treatments may work better for one sex and worse for the other.

Women are needed for medical research studies because the findings will continue to elucidate sex and gender differences in diseases, drug response and medication side effects.

According to Ken Getz, a senior research fellow at the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development in Boston, Mass., the gender of the physician conducting the study is crucial to attracting study participants. Unfortunately, the current number of female investigators is much lower than male investigators: “The involvement of female physicians is disproportionately low and has been steadily declining.”

This decline has overlapped a time period when the number of clinical studies targeting diseases with a high prevalence among women has increased.

Getz and colleagues are concerned. “The low incidence of female clinical investigators is particularly concerning given the importance today of physician gender and ethnicity to reaching female and minority patient populations,” says Getz. He feels that women investigators need to remain active in medical research in order to attract female study volunteers.

The importance of encouraging women’s participation in medical research is further underscored by a recent survey released by the Society for Women’s Health Research, a Washington, D.C., based advocacy group. The survey reveals that a growing number of women do not recognize the significance of research or do not believe in participating in studies.

“Focusing on older Americans, which is an important group that needs to be studied more carefully, we asked women 50 and older why they would be hesitant to participate in a medical research study,” said Sherry Marts, Ph.D., vice president of scientific affairs for the Society. “The most common response was that they are ‘just not interested in it’ or ‘don’t believe in it.’ This is a clear indication that we need to do a better job of communicating to every American the importance of medical research.”

The good news, Marts said, is that more than 60 percent of women 50 and older who have participated in a medical research study would definitely or probably participate again if given the opportunity. “Most women who participate in research have a good experience,” Marts said. “There is a positive feeling that comes with helping others and that’s a big part of research participation.”

Medical research is crucial to discovering advances in the diagnosis and treatment of different conditions. How quickly advances are made depends on the quality of research.

“It is important that research include both women and men, as well as members of different age groups, races and ethnicities, depending on the focus of the study,” Marts said. “Diverse and robust research that carefully looks for differences among these groups is key to improving health outcomes for everyone.”

Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR)