Alyson McGregor: Why medicine often has dangerous side effects for women
Alyson McGregor studies women's health, especially as it relates to emergency care -- when time-sensitive, life-or-death decisions are made using drugs and treatments mainly tested on men. Full bio
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and the medications they're prescribing
always been the case for everyone.
over the past century
half the population?
in a medical emergency.
and stubbed toes,
through the door to the ER,
or gender of our patients.
any differences between men and women.
revealed that 80 percent of the drugs
side effects on women
released to the market?
for a drug to go from an idea
a regulatory approval process,
to prescribe to you?
of dollars of funding
unacceptable side effects
after that has gone through?
used in that laboratory,
in the animal studies were male animals,
performed almost exclusively on men.
our framework for medical research?
popularized in the media,
with the sleep aid Ambien.
over 20 years ago,
of prescriptions have been written,
suffer more sleep disorders than men.
recommended cutting the dose in half
that women metabolize the drug
in their system.
getting behind the wheel of the car,
for motor vehicle accidents.
as an emergency physician,
that I've cared for over the years
and acted upon 20 years ago
to be analyzed by gender?
to protect people
without informed consent.
or rules were set into place,
to protect women of childbearing age
medical research studies.
happened to the fetus during the study?
at this time actually thought
are pretty homogeneous.
fluctuating levels of hormones
they could get if they had only men.
there was a general assumption
were alike in every way,
and sex hormones.
applied to women.
of women's health?
with reproduction:
to as "bikini medicine."
until about the 1980s,
by the medical community
when they realized that
from all medical research studies
about the unique needs
of evidence has come to light
men and women are in every way.
a different physiology than normal adults.
specialty of pediatrics came to light.
in order to improve their lives.
can be said about women.
with boobs and tubes.
anatomy and physiology
with the same intensity.
system, for example.
to try to figure out
completely different heart attacks.
for both men and women,
of having a heart attack than men.
of crushing chest pain --
will complain of "just not feeling right,"
women do make up half the population.
to help explain some of these differences?
are smaller in women compared to men,
develop disease is different
if someone is at risk for a heart attack,
and tested and perfected in men,
at determining that in women.
about the medications --
that we use, like aspirin.
prevent them from having a heart attack,
give aspirin to a healthy woman,
is a fast-paced business.
men and women that we could be utilizing?
get those runny noses
to those stubbed toes
every cell has a sex.
presents themselves in society.
transgendered population.
that from the moment of conception,
the chromosomes that determine
male or female, man or woman.
chromosomes pictured here --
would be born with ovaries or testes,
that those organs produced
we see in the opposite sex.
that theory was wrong --
from the Whitehead Institute,
that those sex-determining chromosomes
for our entire lives
for the differences we see
between men and women
and severity of diseases.
that continue to find that evidence,
to start translating this data
of a national organization
Women's Health Collaborative,
so that it's available for teaching
the medical educators to the table.
has been done since its inception.
of incorporating the gender lens
health care providers correctly.
the Department of Emergency Medicine
in Emergency Medicine,
the differences between men and women
and sepsis and substance abuse,
that education is paramount.
model of education.
for the nurses, for the students
to the health care leaders.
we think about medicine
to the health care system.
on the wheels of inevitability,
towards change is awareness.
medical care for women.
individualized health care for everyone.
medical care for men and women.
to ask your doctors
are specific to your sex and gender.
and together we can all learn.
and my colleagues in this field,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Alyson McGregor - Women's health pioneerAlyson McGregor studies women's health, especially as it relates to emergency care -- when time-sensitive, life-or-death decisions are made using drugs and treatments mainly tested on men.
Why you should listen
Alyson J. McGregor MD is co-founder and director for the Sex and Gender in Emergency Medicine (SGEM) Division (formerly Women’s Health in Emergency Care) within the Department of Emergency Medicine at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
Her group's aim is to establish research and educational endeavors that promote sex- and gender-specific medicine and women’s health as they relate to emergency care. Dr. McGregor received her medical degree at Boston University School of Medicine and residency training at Brown, where she continues to work as an attending physician at RI Hospital Emergency Department. Dr. McGregor is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and also serves as co-director for the SGEM Fellowship and co-founder of the national organization Sex and Gender Women’s Health Collaborative.
Alyson McGregor | Speaker | TED.com