Sex and Gender Health
نویسندگان
چکیده
“Men are from Mars, women are from Venus.” This well-known metaphor originally intended to describe the psychological differences between men and women in romantic relationships in 1992, may actually be explained by fundamental differences in physiological, psychological, social and epidemiological factors. Physiologically, males and females differ in their genetic, hormonal and anatomical compositions. Psychosocially, males and females have different perceptions, behavioral patterns and social/cultural functions. Epidemiologically, males and females also vary in their exposure and susceptibility to risk and protective factors of diseases. These important sex and gender differences likely contributed to health inequalities such as disease prevalence and treatment outcomes in males and females. Currently, in many fields of biology and medicine, only a small amount of studies have attempted to examine these fundamental sex and gender health differences and have addressed how to account for these differences when providing appropriate healthcare. Furthermore, appropriating treatment is not as simple as the male and female dichotomy when contextualizing sex and gender in the present society and culture. The discourse between gender equality and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Ally (LGBTQIA†) rights prompted us to reflect on whether sexual biases as well as heteronormativity have influenced our thoughts underlying scientific studies and medical practice. In an attempt to draw broader attention to and devote more efforts to the study of sex and gender health in biomedical research, this issue of the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine (YJBM) is dedicated to sex and gender health. According to the American Psychiatric Association, sex is defined as a person’s biological status (male/female) and gender as the attitudes, feelings or behaviors associated with a person’s biological sex (boy/man or girl/woman). Topics covered in this issue encompass not only physical health including reproduction, HIV treatment and chest pain, but also mental health including addictive disorders, depression and suicide. In addition, this issue includes perspectives on sex and gender differences and biases associated with clinical practice, healthcare provision and psychiatric counseling. There is also an additional manuscript included in this issue that is a rollover from a previous issue on the aging brain. In particular, we would like to first highlight three articles about substance-related addictive disorders. Rutherford et al. reported a preliminary study on tobacco smoking and the resting maternal brain. By comparing the EEG profiles of frontal electrodes between smoking and non-smoking mothers, the authors found an increased low-frequency band spectral power in tobaccosmoking mothers. This finding may account for the different neural responses to infant signals and caregiving behaviors of substance-using mothers as shown in previous studies. In another original contribution on tobacco smoking, Verplaetse et al. examined the individual and combined influences of gender, smoking status, and stress on major depression disorder (MDD) diagnoses. They discovered that in women, stressful life events and smoking were more likely related to new MDD diagnosis than in men. Apart from tobacco smoking, marijuana use among females is highly prevalent in the United States while our knowledge concerning the effects of marijuana is fairly limited. Dr. Brents reviewed this body of knowledge on the relationship between the endocannabinoid system and female reproduction. She suggested that the interaction between these two systems
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