Women Respond Very Differently Than Men To HIV And Treatment, But Most Research Subjects Are Men

“If we’re going to find a cure, it’s important that we find a cure that actually works for everybody,” said Rowena Johnston, a research director. Public health news focuses on reporting disparity, longevity, climate change, sleep apnea, mighty microbes, brain wearables, a rare women’s disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, mental health awareness on Instagram, mortality rates for pro athletes, spina bifida, ER visits, healthier beer and palliative care. Inspired by reports of a second patient apparently freed of infection with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, scientists are pursuing dozens of ways to cure the disease. But now, researchers must reckon with a longstanding obstacle: the lack of women in clinical trials of potential H.I.V. treatments, cures and vaccines. Women make up just over half of the 35 million people living with H.I.V. worldwide, and the virus is the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age. In Africa, parts of South America and even in the southern United States, new infections in young women are helping to sustain the epidemic. (Mandavilli, 5/28) Hospital staff were significantly more likely to report harmful patient safety events for white patients than for black and other minority patients, a new study found. Rates of safety events that hospital workers voluntarily reported varied significantly by the patients’ race in a 10-hospital system located in the District of Columbia and Maryland from July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2017, according to the study in the Journal of Patient Safety. (Meyer, 5/24) Having a purpose in life may decrease your risk of dying early, according to a study published Friday. Researchers analyzed data from nearly 7,000 American adults between the ages of 51 and 61 who filled out psychological questionnaires on the relationship between mortality and life purpose. What they found shocked them, according to […]

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