Medical Research, Gender Issues in

Medical research is undertaken in order to better understand causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. One of the most important experimental methods in medical research in the United States is the clinical trial, which ensures the safety and efficacy of new treatments before they are widely prescribed. In the mid-1980s, researchers began to recognize that biological differences between women and men could have a significant impact on health, although the majority of medical research prior to this time had been conducted almost exclusively on men. Since then, sex differences have become a focus of attention in medical research.

Critics argue that some research fails to account for the differences in women's and men's biology, yielding a body of medical knowledge that leads to inadequate or ...