It’s a women’s longevity revolution!

For centuries, women's health has been an afterthought in medical research and healthcare systems. Even in the 21st century, we're still playing catch-up, particularly in the field of longevity research. It's time for a revolution in women's health, especially for those over age 40.

The longevity paradox

While it's well-known that women, on average, live longer than men, recent research has unveiled a disturbing trend:

• On average, women live 5 years longer than men BUT… 
• Women spend 25% fewer years in good health compared to men. 

This paradox underscores a critical issue: our focus on lifespan has overshadowed the equally important concept of health span, particularly for women.

A history of neglect

The neglect of women's health is part of a broader pattern of gender inequality that has persisted into modern times.

• Women weren't granted the right to vote in the U.S. until 1920.
• Until 1974, women couldn't get their own credit cards without a male cosigner.
• It wasn't until 1993 that women were routinely included in clinical trials by NIH mandate.

In medicine, this neglect has led to shocking gaps in reproductive and sexual health knowledge and care.

• Until the 1930s, some doctors believed that women's uteruses could wander around their bodies, causing various health problems – a belief dating back to ancient Greek medicine.
• Until the 1980s, "female hysteria" was considered a legitimate medical diagnosis.
• The full anatomy of the clitoris wasn't discovered until 2005!

The impact on women's health and longevity research

This historical neglect has had profound consequences.

1. Misdiagnosis. It wasn't until the 1990s that researchers realized women often experience different heart attack symptoms than men, leading to decades of misdiagnosis. Even today, the risk of dying of a heart attack is 20% higher in women than in men. 
2. Delayed treatment. Women receive a diagnosis later than men in the cases of more than 700 diagnoses, including diabetes, stroke, and certain types of cancer. 
3. Lack of research on midlife women. Despite affecting half of the population, the first long-term study on menopause, the Women's Health Initiative, wasn't started until 1991. 

The gender gap in pre-clinical (animal) longevity research

The bias in medical research extends to animal studies.

• Historically, female animals weren’t used in research because of the potential confounding effects of the female estrous (menstrual) cycle (aka “but females are too complicated!”).
• A review in 2020 found that only 35% of studies used both male and female mice, despite the NIH mandates requiring the inclusion of both sexes in preclinical research. 
• In the Interventions Testing Program mouse studies, four of the eight drugs that extended lifespan only worked in male mice.  

The urgency of now

As women enter midlife and beyond, the need for focused healthcare becomes all the more critical. Issues such as menopause, osteoporosis, and heart disease affect women differently than men, yet research and treatment often fail to account for these differences.

A call to action

It's time to rage against the machine of medical sex inequality. We must:

1. Demand increased funding for women's health and longevity research.
2. Insist on gender-specific medical education and training.
3. Support companies and initiatives focused on women's health and longevity beyond reproductive years.
4. Advocate for a balanced representation of both sexes in all stages of medical research, from animal studies to clinical trials.

The time for change is now. Join us in making women's health and longevity a priority. Together, we can close the gender health gap, ensure a healthier future for all women, and pave the way for groundbreaking advances in longevity that benefit everyone, regardless of sex. Let's consign medical gender bias to the history books, alongside wandering uteruses and mandatory male co-signers.

HOP to it!

Amy Killen, MD