> Women’s Brain Project:
Grey Areas in Grey Matter Research When It Comes to Gender By Anna Dé Head of Policy & Advocacy, Women’s Brain Project
Considering sex- and gender-specific outcomes from biomedical research may improve treatment, productivity — and national economic outcomes.
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n March 8 — International Women’s Day 2023 — the Women’s Brain Project released the results of a study into the economic benefits of investing in sex- and gender-specific brain research.
The Women’s Brain Project (WBP) is an international organisation studying sex and gender determinants of brain and mental health to achieve precision medicine and care. It is in the process of establishing a Research Institute for Sex and Gender Precision Medicine. The recent study was conducted in conjunction with Economist Impact, an organisation driving progress on world issues. The collaboration resulted in a White Paper entitled Sex, Gender and the Brain: Towards an Inclusive Research Agenda. The paper provides a thematic review of sex and gender differences across five brain conditions: Alzheimer’s, migraine, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s and stroke. The conclusion is that there is a need for more research based on the economic benefits of earlier and more reliable diagnoses, disease prevention and management, and more effective treatments. All of these, the study found, could mitigate the impact of these debilitating conditions. The starting point was the conceptualisation of a general framework for brain diseases, which was then adapted to build five frameworks according to disease-specific outcomes. The novel frameworks convey how sex- and genderspecific research can impact a country’s GDP. Brain diseases are poorly understood, and they receive less investment into drug development and patient care. “This is aggravated by the fact that the majority of brain diseases are affecting the female population worldwide,” says Dr Antonella Santuccione Chadha, co-founder and pro-bono CEO of the WBP. “Women are underrepresented in clinical research, and the preclinical research does not systematically study the influence of sex and gender in disease models.” Considering sexand gender-specific outcomes from biomedical research may have 150
Visual 1: White Paper front cover
the potential to improve treatment, workforce productivity — and national economic outcomes. Neurological disorders affect men and women differently, with women overwhelmingly affected by the most prevalent CFI.co | Capital Finance International
disorders including dementia and migraine. The impact of sex and gender on the economic costs of neurological disorders has not been properly studied; most research is carried out on a one-size-fits-all manner.