Sex and gender in health research: updating policy to reflect evidence

Abstract

Sex and gender in health research: updating policy to reflect evidence Australia needs to align with other nations and implement sex and gender analysis in health and medical research G rowing evidence from pre-clinical 1 and clinical research 2 demonstrates that females/women and males/men can differ significantly in susceptibility to common diseases and response to treatment, including efficacy and adverse events. he mechanisms underlying sex and gender differences will include epigenetic, genetic, endocrine, environmental, social, economic and behavioural factors. Hence, ignoring sex and gender differences across the research lifecycle -from grant submissions through to clinical translation -has the potential to compromise the accuracy of science, result in detrimental health outcomes, increase health costs, and have implications beyond health, including social services and aged care.