Does your neck hurt?
There is a high chance that you will receive antidepressants from the doctor/ShutterStock
The understanding that there is a difference in morbidity between women and men and that the diagnosis and medical treatment must be adapted to each of the sexes, was and remains a revolutionary idea in the world of medicine.
The differences between women and men lie not only in the reproductive systems and weight, but exist in all body systems.
In the 1950s and 1960s, several incidents happened to women who participated in clinical studies to examine the effectiveness of certain drugs.
Women who were pregnant at the time of the experiment had devastating results for the pregnancy or the fetus.
When the drug "thalidomide" was tested for nausea, for example, it was found that it causes severe defects in the fetuses of the women who took the drug.
Therefore, in the 1970s, the decision was made that only men would be included in clinical studies in medicine, which caused a significant deficiency in the knowledge and understanding of women's medicine.
The situation changed only in 1993, when the American Congress passed a law according to which it is mandatory to include women in research.
More is sometimes less
Women have more chronic diseases, take more sick days, take more medications and suffer more side effects than men.
Every such statistic has a reason that the "male" medical world tends to ignore: women take more sick days since they are usually also the main caregivers of their children or their elderly parents;
Women take more drugs because they feel they must function in any situation, and suffer more side effects because they often receive the wrong treatment, or an inappropriate dose.
In an article published in the prestigious monthly "Lancet", studies were cited showing that male doctors do not know or do not understand physiological processes in women, tend to underestimate women's complaints, make unfounded assumptions about them and even blame them for their medical condition.
From the results of a Harvard Medical School study conducted in 2023 in emergency rooms, it appears that men receive a higher urgency classification than women, in all descriptions: women wait 30% longer for a doctor's examination in the emergency room;
Women are hospitalized less in intensive care units, receive 25% less opiates (narcotic pain relievers) than men, and for every man who receives a pain reliever, two women receive antidepressants.
Heart Attack?
You are 30% less likely than men to get a catheter/ShutterStock
take to heart
Studies show that women are diagnosed with a heart attack significantly later than men, receive less preventive treatment, less symptomatic treatment and less follow-up.
For example, it turns out that women are less likely to be connected to the ventilator or referred for catheterization.
It is not surprising, then, that there are significant differences in mortality from heart disease: in the 30 days after a heart attack, close to 12% of women die compared to 4.6% of men.
After five years 32% of women will die compared to 16.9% of men.
Are you in pain?
You're just hysterical
Many studies and articles indicate that male medicine is infected with misconceptions, according to which women have a lower pain threshold, they tend to exaggerate the description of their pain, and worst of all - pain and diseases in women often have a psychological background.
A man with chronic pain is seen as a hero, while a woman with chronic pain is seen as emotional or hysterical.
When men and women report the same degree of pain (say 7 out of 10), the tendency is to perceive women's pain as less acute than they claim, in terms of "the more they scream, the less it hurts."
Another statistic that emerges from studies is that women who complain of chronic pain receive twice as many anti-anxiety drugs than pain relievers.
That is, many of the medical conditions in women are attributed to anxiety or depression, and for every referral of a man to an orthopedist, two women are referred to a psychiatrist.
Many of the medical diagnoses in women are flawed in light of the fact that 30% of women diagnosed with depression actually suffer from an organic condition that has a treatment that will cure or delay the worsening of the disease.
Are you in pain?
A large percentage of male doctors will think you don't need painkillers/ShutterStock
Liver transplant and knee replacement - gender equality?
well no.
The rate of receiving a liver in women is lower, the waiting time for women for a transplant is longer and their mortality rate while waiting for a transplant is higher than that of men.
Among the various factors leading to this are economic and insurance disparities, as well as a gender incompatibility of test values to assess the urgency of the transplant.
It was found that men and women who go to the doctor and express the same intensity of pain in the knee, and whose imaging findings are the same (x-rays or MRI) - receive completely different treatment.
In fact, men receive 22 times more knee replacement recommendations than women.
Women in positions of power in the medical world
Yonat Ran, Coordinator of Women's Health in the Nursing Department, United Health Insurance Fund/United Spokesperson
If we look for a moment at the gender division between women and men in the management of large medical institutions, we will find a division of 70%-30% in favor of men.
A similar attitude is seen in the management of units and departments in large medical institutions and also in senior medical positions where there is a minority of women.
The situation is also similar among the faculty of the faculties of medicine, where the ratio is about 60%-40%, the majority being male which has been maintained over the years.
Women will introduce their male colleagues as a doctor 96% of the time, compared to men who will introduce their female colleagues only 65% of the time.
At professional conferences, only 49% of female doctors speaking will be introduced as "doctor", compared to 76% of speaking doctors.
Media interviewers are three times more likely to address a female doctor by her first name without mentioning her medical degree than a male doctor.
The same attitude is also found among patients who turn to female doctors privately three times more often than to male doctors.
The reason you must demand treatment from a woman
And what about the gender of the therapist?
Does this have an effect on medical results?
Research shows that the gender of the therapist has an effect on medical outcomes.
When a man operates on a woman, there will be 15% more unwanted results, such as nerve damage or injury to an organ unrelated to the surgery.
When a man operates on a woman, she will suffer 16% more than men from post-operative complications such as infection or internal bleeding.
And the most significant figure - when a man operates on a woman, there is a 32% higher mortality rate than when a woman operates on a woman.
Strive for gender equality in medicine
As we have shown, women pay a heavy price for misconceptions and discrimination in medicine.
they are diagnosed late;
do not receive treatment at all or receive inappropriate treatment;
The medical teams have a tendency to underestimate and minimize women's complaints, which causes women to avoid seeking medical help.
About 40% of women will be required to contact their family doctor 10 times before being referred to the professional doctor appropriate for their problem, compared to 2 visits for men.
All those involved in medicine, from the decision makers in global health organizations to a certain doctor in the emergency room, must recognize the physiological differences between men and women, and root out misconceptions that discriminate against women and cause significant damage to the health of women around the world, neglect of women and even death.
The author is the coordinator of the women's health field in the nursing department, United Health Insurance Fund
More on the same topic:
women
gender equality
women's health