A Framework for a Women's Health Research Agenda

Abstract

Background and Methods: Previous efforts aimed at setting priorities for research on women's health issues have focused on conditions and diseases unique to, or more prevalent in, women. As a result, the leading causes of mortality in women, such as ischemie heart disease and lung cancer, are not identified as priority health issues for women. In this paper, we present a new framework for developing a research agenda in women's health. The framework includes criteria for identifying priority health issues and an approach to formulating research questions. The new criteria ensure that health conditions are selected that reflect common causes of morbidity and mortality in women rather than restricting women's health research to reproductive issues or to conditions that disproportionately affect women. After identifying priority health issues, the next step is to formulate research questions. We recommend that research questions take into account not only traditional biologic approaches but also the delivery of women's health care services. Results: Although more detailed analyses are necessary, preliminary assessments based on mortality data indicate that major health problems that have not received attention as women's health problems include injuries, AIDS, and respiratory diseases. An analysis of morbidity data indicates that additional major health problems include arthritis, hypertension, migraine headaches, bladder conditions, and thyroid disease. In addition to analyzing morbidity and mortality data, the framework includes the study of reproductive- and hormone-related events across the life cycle as a priority for research. Conclusion: The present surge of interest in women's health creates a unique opportunity to develop systematically a research agenda. Decision-making processes must be clearly articulated so that unintentional biases will not guide choices about women's health research.