Why trend mapping women’s health has benefits for everyone

We’ve all wished for a crystal ball from time to time. What if we had one for our health – built from the stories of our own bodies? It stands to reason that, when looking at long-term health, the more we know, the more dots we can join. However, it’s a sad fact that women’s health has been historically overlooked, meaning there is a huge lack of data from crucial biological life stages. But collecting this information as a matter of routine could be transformational for everyone.

This is something Erin Beveridge, Principal Clinical Researcher at Canon Medical Research Europe, examines every day in her work, particularly in the area of neuroradiology, using imaging to look at the brain, spine and nervous system. But recently she has been investigating more broadly. “We closely monitor clinical trends in different areas and I set up a women’s health trend map to explore sex differences and disease,” she explains. “Because when I began my research, I discovered that the headline news is all ‘breast cancer and obstetrics’. And, yes, this is obviously really important, but it's not the full range of women's health.” 

This lack of data around women’s clinical need can in part be attributed to a long-standing reliance on the use of the male body as the ‘average’ standard, not just for medical protocols, but to test everything from ideal room temperatures to the design of public transport. So, clearly, if the default is a western male of average height and weight, there’s an issue from the start. “Then there is also a sense of more general bias,” adds Erin. “And some beliefs, such as women being more prone to anxiety, have become ingrained in the system.”

In tandem, she discovered, the result is not only a staggering impact on women’s long-term health, but huge economic consequences, because the focus is almost entirely on treatment rather than prevention. An excellent illustration of this is in cardio obstetrics – the heart health of women before, during and after pregnancy. “Obstetrics is focused on the baby, but there's actually very little for the mother. And yet pregnancy is the biggest physiological stress test, which can highlight weaknesses in her body,” she explains. “We have this amazing window in which we can glimpse the future of her health during a time when she has more contact with healthcare services than any other – so assessments for the future could be built in.”

For example, Erin found that preeclampsia (where high blood pressure develops during pregnancy, affecting both the mother and unborn baby) can be an important indicator of cardiovascular disease in later life – a real flag to begin preventative care. But, equally, lives could be saved by extending the supervision of women in the months after they have had a baby. “The second biggest cause of late maternal deaths [more than 42 days, but less than a year after the end of pregnancy] is cardiovascular disease and, like maternal deaths more broadly, women from non-white backgrounds are at higher risk.”

Brain health is another critical research area which has not proportionately accounted for the biological differences of women. “Yet women make up two thirds of Alzheimer's patients and are three times more likely to develop multiple sclerosis,” she stresses, adding, “women are also twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression and, in athletes, the risk of concussion doubles – with its severity dictated by where she is in her menstrual cycle.” Her research also uncovered a frightening, often unspoken, truth: “women experiencing intimate partner violence show signs of brain injury in over 50% of cases, but it usually goes unrecognised. All too often these women are misdiagnosed with mental health conditions and their injuries go untreated.”

Fluctuations in hormones have a clear impact on how women’s bodies respond to trauma, “and the pressures of pregnancy and menopause on the body are also key to understanding preventable conditions,” Erin adds. Surely these incredible and constant states of change are ideal for scientists who are looking to understand the dynamic nature of the human body? How we respond over time and under different conditions? It would make absolute sense to understand what triggers change and how bodies adapt or break down. And in doing so, create powerful models of prediction, as well as use that data to inform treatment design for all. “If we can't even do this for 50% of the population, how are we going to reach individual levels of personalised medicine?” Erin asks. “Aren't we skipping a big step?”

Of course, there is an additional argument that putting a real clinical spotlight on women’s bodies in the long-term creates significant societal and financial upsides. Simply put, preventing the kind of risks that put a strain on individuals, their families, doctors, hospitals and other services creates a healthier and more productive population. “This isn’t just about medicine,” says Erin. “It's about our communities, society as a whole and even our economies.”

At a time when global brain health is becoming an international priority and the WHO reports that “the women’s health gap means women spend 25% more of their lives in poor health or with disabilities than men,” the urgency is very real. Erin is far from a lone voice when she stresses that addressing these disparities requires work on a global scale. It begins, she says, with “listening to women and amplifying women’s voices in healthcare leadership.” Because to move forward into a world of truly equitable and personalised healthcare, we must stop designing medicine around an average that doesn’t exist and start building it around the full diversity of the human experience. “It’s a collective responsibility,” she adds, “to change course and make sure women from every walk of life are included, so that future generations receive the care and medical attention they deserve.”

Learn more about the work of Canon Medical Research Europe.