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September 13, 2000
Press Release---For Immediate Release
Information: Edward E. Bartlett, 301-670-1964
GAO REPORT REVEALS IMBALANCE IN GENDER-SPECIFIC RESEARCH
The General Accounting Office has recently released a report
revealing that men's health research is underfunded and men are
underrepresented in medical research, compared to women's health.
According to the GAO report (1), the percentage of NIH expenditures
allotted to men's health research in FY 99 was 6.4%, compared to
15.5% for women's health research. And males represented only 37.1%
of
all participants in extramural research, compared to 61.9% female. The
GAO also reported that the NIH has 740 female-only studies in
progress,
compared to only 244 male-studies at the present time.
Men's Health America has conducted additional analyses, and has
concluded this disparity in gender-specific funding cannot be
explained by historical imbalances that unfairly favored men's health
research.
This conclusion is especially true in light of men's higher mortality
risk. For example, in the area of cancer research:
- A 1991 report revealed that only 43% of Phase II and III
enrollees in the Clinical Trials Cooperative Program were male (2).
- A 1999 analysis of the Southwest Oncology Group trials reported
a 42% male enrollment (3).
- Prostate cancer research has lagged breast cancer research by a
1:4 margin (4), even though similar numbers of persons are diagnosed
with these conditions each year.
- A review of the Medline database reveals from 1966-1999, there
were 33% more published studies of cancer in women than in men (5).
The NIH Revitalization Act of 1993 (PL 103-43) mandates equal gender
representation in medical research.
References:
1. General Accounting Office: Women's Health. GAO/HEHS-00-96, May
2000.
2. Ungerleider RS, Friedman MA. Sex, trials, and datatapes. J Natl
Cancer Institute 1991; 83: 16-17.
3. Hutchins LF, Unger JM, Crowley JJ et al. Underrepresentation of
patients 65 years of age or older in cancer-treatment trials. New
Engl J Med 1999; 341: 2061-2067.
4. Research Dollars by Various Cancers. www.nci.nih.gov/public/
factbk97/varican.htm
5. Descriptors: Malignancy, United States, Human, Clinical trials
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