Why is the term “women of childbearing age” problematic in research and health advice?

This lack of research helps explain why women are much more likely to experience drug side effects—some fatal. Over the past few decades, more efforts have been made to include people with ovaries and uteruses in clinical trials. But we still have a long way to go.

Women are also often subjected to medical advice aimed at protecting the potential fetus, whether or not they are pregnant. Official guidelines on how much mercury-containing fish it is safe to eat may be different for “women of childbearing age.” According to the US Environmental Protection AgencyFor example. And in 2021, the World Health Organization used the same language to describe people who should be the focus of policies. reduce alcohol consumption.

Cattapan says the takeaway message is that women are the ones who need to think about fetal health. It’s not the industries that produce these chemicals or the institutions that regulate them. Even men who contribute to pregnancy. Only women who have a chance of getting pregnant whether they want to or not. “This puts the responsibility for the health of future generations squarely on the shoulders of women,” she says.

Another problem is the language itself. The term “women of reproductive age” generally includes women between the ages of 15 and 44. Women at one end of this spectrum will have very different bodies and very different health risks than those at the other end. And this term does not include people who can get pregnant but do not identify as women.

In other cases it is overly broad. For example, in the context of the Zika virus, it was not all women between the ages of 15 and 44 who should consider taking precautions. Cattapan says the travel advice does not apply to people who have had a hysterectomy or have not had sex with men. “Sensitivity is important here,” he says.

In such cases, more detailed health advice would be useful. He adds that rules often read as if they were written for people who are supposedly stupid. “I don’t think it should be this way.”

Anything else

On Thursday, President-elect Donald Trump said: He will nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.. The news wasn’t much of a surprise, considering Trump told the audience at a campaign rally that he would give Kennedy the day off. “Go crazy” about health, “foods” and “medicines”.

The role will give Kennedy some control over several agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates drugs in the United States, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which coordinates public health recommendations and programs.