A Spanish study concludes that 70% of women believe that the gender perspective should be included in health for effective care and, given that sex is decisive in most pathologies, highlights the need for differentiated diagnoses and treatments .
The ‘Special Report on Cofares Trends’, entitled ‘The gender perspective in health saves lives’, records differences in health based on gender, as in the case of heart attacks, whose general symptoms are pressure or pain in the center of the thorax and one or both arms. However, in women, it can also cause shortness of breath, nausea or vomiting, and back or jaw (chin) pain.
Despite the importance of knowing the symptoms of pathologies, 47% of the 1,000 interviewed by Cofares -Spanish observatory of trends in the health area- affirm that they are unaware that the symptoms of cerebrovascular accident (CVA), one of the main causes of female death, changes depending on whether you are a man or a woman.
These gender differences also affect care at home: 7 out of 10 women claim to be more attentive to the health of others than to their own, some even going so far as to modify their health consultations to care for the family, according to the report. Study of the Cofares group, a Spanish pharmaceutical distributor.
The situation is worse in the 36-55 age group, the generation that cares for both children and parents, in which the percentage of women who change their appointment with the doctor to care for others is 37.7%, compared to 21.7% of them. over 55 years of age, or 28.6% of those under 35 years of age.
The study also analyzes women’s perception of their state of health and, although 60% say they have more time to take care of themselves than previous generations, 45% believe that mothers and grandmothers had a better state of health.
The percentage rises to almost 54% among the youngest, between 18 and 35 years old, and is also higher in the Canary Islands (64%), Extremadura (60%) and Castilla-La Mancha (59%).
The Cofares group highlights that the perception that the gender perspective should be applied in health confirms the scientific literature published since 2020, with more than 5,000 studies that recognize sex as a determinant in most pathologies.
For this reason, the drug distributor advocates a specific therapeutic approach in the prevention, care and treatment of women.
Source: TSF
