Focus on preclinical sex differences will not address women’s and men’s health disparities

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1516958112
• Publication Date: 2015-11-03T19:24:18Z
• Authors: Sarah S. Richardson; Meredith Reiches; Heather Shattuck-...; Michelle Lynne La...; Theresa Consoli
• Keywords: Male; 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences; Sex Factors; Humans; Female; Health Status Disparities; 10. No inequality; United States; 3. Good health

Last spring, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a new policy calling for the use of both male and female materials—animals, tissues, cells, and cell lines—in preclinical research (1). Canada and the European Union have recently instituted similar policies. Advocates argue that requiring analysis of sex in preclinical research will advance scientific understanding of sex differences in human health outcomes, such as higher rates of adverse drug events (ADE) in women compared with men (2). We disagree.