Week 4 Readings

Sex differences in autoimmune disease:

I thought the explicit clarification of gender vs. sex was a really important statement to make. Often, medical professionals shy away from a statement of social construction in favor of not discussing what is not completely biological. When I first read the title, I wondered whether the author would make a distinction, and I was actually surprised by it.

I was surprised that so many diseases have such high prevalence among females. Usually, you only hear the common "female" diseases like reproductive-related cancers, but I had no idea that diseases like MS and thyroid diseases had such high female-to-male ratios.

I think information like this should be disseminated to the general public because if we don't know some of this info, chances are most people know even less.

I had never heard that diseases like RA and MS are mitigated by hormones in pregnancy and flare during the post-partum period.

[on an unrelated note, I thought the experimental method of testing hormones in mice by castration was particularly cruel]

The sentence "Never has there been greater interest and funding opportunities in the are of sex difference in autoimmune disease than now" was hope-instilling :)

In Heart Disease, the Focus Shifts to Women:

I was surprised to see that heart conditions have worse results in women than men. Popular media usually sends the message that heart problems are a problem mostly for males.

It's a little disappointing that so little is known about many of the differences in stress related responses, etc., but I'm glad people are discussing it. I, too, was angered by a common response by doctors to symptoms from women. Obviously, they aren't aware either that heart conditions are common among women.