Director says studies that unravel the difference between the sexes remain critical to women's health
The fact that men and women are not the same is no longer completely overlooked in the medical world. Diseases, such as heart attacks, can present differently. Drugs, such as sleep medications, can elicit dramatically different responses. Yet, an absence of research that includes women prior to the early 1990s has left studies into women's health largely in "catch-up" mode.
Over its 20-year history, the Ludeman Family Center for Women's Health Research at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus has worked to accelerate that progress, becoming a national leader in conducting research across the span of women's lives. The center has also mentored more than 100 early-career scientists on their women's health research journeys.
"If you look back before 1993, women largely were not included in most research studies at all," said Judy Regensteiner, PhD, director and co-founder of the Ludeman Center and distinguished professor of medicine in the divisions of Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the CU School of Medicine. "They were excluded deliberately, for some mistaken notions of safety, I think, about child-rearing or childbearing. In addition, it was thought that the hormonal fluctuations associated with the menstrual cycle might make results in women unreliable."
Regensteiner talks about this imbalance - and the important advances now being made, especially in the areas of cardiovascular and diabetes research - on this episode of Health Science Radio. She explains the definition of sex differences (vs. gender differences) research and discusses the many nuances of women's health - from fetal programming and teenage risk factors for type 2 diabetes to perimenopause symptoms and risks of developing Alzheimer's.
Listen to the podcast:
"Our mission is to do the cutting-edge research in women's health across the lifespan in the areas of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and mental health, to mentor early career female and male faculty who wish to study women's health and to educate the public and healthcare providers," said Regensteiner, who served two full terms on the National Institutes of Health's Advisory Committee on Research on Women's Health. "Right now, there is a great lack of evidence in many areas of women's health, and so the Ludeman Center is here to fill in the important pieces of evidence - and get young scientists to enter the field."
