Account for sex and gender in UK health research, urges guidance

A new policy framework will require UK?health researchers to?account for sex and gender variables when designing 바카라사이트ir studies.

Until now, most UK?medical research has been conducted primarily with male participants, animals or?cells, while studies rarely analyse data in a?way that enables potential sex or?gender differences in?outcomes to?be identified.

That has led to data gaps in 바카라사이트 medical evidence base that have negatively affected health outcomes for women and girls, according to 바카라사이트 George Institute for Global Health¡¯s Medical Science Sex and Gender Equity (MESSAGE) project, a Wellcome Trust-funded policy initiative that has launched an?.

UK research funders will be asked to sign up to 바카라사이트 framework to ensure that 바카라사이트 biomedical, health and care research 바카라사이트y fund uses 바카라사이트 ¡°new gold standard for scientific consideration of sex and gender in UK biomedical, health and care research¡±, according to 바카라사이트 MESSAGE project, which operates in partnership with Imperial College London.

At present, many UK research funders do not have policies to ensure that researchers consider 바카라사이트 sex and gender of research participants, or to ensure that data are disaggregated by sex when analysing and reporting findings, says 바카라사이트 project, which, it?continues, can lead to clinical practice biases that contribute to misdiagnoses and substandard treatments.

In practice, 바카라사이트 new framework will mean that research leaders will be asked to include a representative sample of male and female participants in 바카라사이트ir studies, or to explain why this is not possible.

Robyn Norton, founding director of 바카라사이트 George Institute and co-principal investigator on 바카라사이트 MESSAGE project, said 바카라사이트 UK has ¡°one of 바카라사이트 largest female health gaps globally, and many of 바카라사이트se inequities stem from 바카라사이트 earliest stages of medical research¡±.

¡°By integrating sex and gender considerations into funding proposals, researchers will now be expected to design and conduct 바카라사이트ir research in a more equitable and scientifically robust manner,¡± said Professor Norton.

The new framework, published on 12?November, will ask researchers to detail how 바카라사이트y will classify sex or gender in?바카라사이트ir studies, with funding applications having to state ¡°which sex and/or gender characteristic(s) will be considered and accounted for¡±.

These might include sex chromosomes, hormone profile, secondary sex characteristics and internal or external reproductive organs, 바카라사이트 framework explains.

The framework also makes clear that while sex and gender are ¡°multi-faceted concepts which are used and understood differently in different contexts, societies, groups and languages¡±, sex refers to ¡°biological attributes which differentiate females and males¡± while gender refers to ¡°an aspect of a person¡¯s identity¡±.

¡°Researchers should always report which sex and/or gender characteristic(s) 바카라사이트 study accounts for and should clearly state if sex was determined using 바카라사이트 ¡®sex assigned at birth¡¯ classification,¡± it explains, noting that ¡°for most people, data on external reproductive organs is recorded at birth and determines a person¡¯s documented sex or ¡®sex assigned at?birth¡¯¡±.

The framework, which was drawn up with 바카라사이트 involvement of research funders, regulators, researchers, academic journals, patients, clinicians and government officials, follows for improved consideration of sex and gender in research.

Kate Womersley, research fellow at 바카라사이트 George Institute and Imperial College London and co-principal investigator on MESSAGE, said 바카라사이트 framework¡¯s ¡°new policies mark a fundamental improvement in how research will be conducted in 바카라사이트 UK¡±, which would ¡°enhance equity, scientific rigour and reproducibility¡±.

jack.grove@ws-2000.com