Sex Matters: Novel Perspectives on Sex and Gender in Psoriatic Arthritis

Описание: In this seminar, nationally and internationally recognized clinician-scientist, Dr. Lihi Eder presents ground-breaking research about sex and gender differences in rheumatic disease. She explains how the gender data gap negatively impacts women, from delayed diagnosis to the availability of medications that are effective in females.

She shares evidence from psoriatic arthritis showing that women face delayed diagnosis compared to men and exploring why. Women tend to present for care earlier, perhaps because they experience higher levels of pain and lower quality of life, and have "atypical" symptoms—such as diffuse pain. Females also present with less joint damage as compared to males, and so traditional diagnostic tools like X-rays don’t capture early-stage disease as effectively in females as they do in males.

Dr. Eder identifies practices in drug development that disadvantage females and illustrates clinical knowledge gaps. Meta-analysis of clinical trials revealed that only about 33% of studies reported sex-disaggregated treatment efficacy data, and a mere 4% reported safety data by sex. Digging deeper into the sex-disaggregated data available, she shows that drug class matters for treatment. While most biologic therapies show better response rates in men, there is evidence that certain classes of drugs have comparable efficacy across sexes. Further, she notes that understanding women’s pain response and the role of hormones, and thus how disease changes during perimenopause and menopause, are key knowledge gaps in the field of rheumatology. To change medical practice; clinicians must be presented with hard data and a clear understanding of underlying biological mechanisms. In general, the needed information doesn’t exist.

This seminar is an urgent call for more women’s health research and increased availability of sex and gender disaggregated data. It also offers reasons for optimism. Rigorous research led by Dr. Eder and her colleagues is transforming clinical care—for the first time, forthcoming clinical guidelines for psoriatic arthritis will include a statement about the importance of considering sex.

For more on upcoming PWHR Women’s Health Research Seminars, visit pwhr.org/seminar-series.