"The Upsetting Reason Why We Don't Always Know How Meds Affect Women"

"For much of medical history, men (and male animals) have been the "guinea pigs" for testing — effects, dosages, and side effects have been measured on primarily or completely male subjects. In modern medicine, men have been the model; women are often an afterthought.

Unfortunately, the trend of overlooking the effects of medications in women continues today. In 2013, 20 years after the drug first became available, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cut the recommended dosage of Ambien for women in half (from 10 mg to 5 mg for the immediate release version)...

Thankfully, NIH is pushing to make a substantial permanent change in research. Beginning in September of last year, it began to introduce a series of policies, regulations, and incentivizing grants to encourage (and in many cases necessitate) researchers to recognize biological sex as a significant factor in their work...

In his work, Dr. Mogil has found that variability in male and female mice data is nearly equal and, if anything, males are slightly more variable than females. A recent meta-analysis published in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews mirrors these findings, concluding that in 293 studies across all fields of biomedicine, there were no significant differences in variation between males and females...

Dr. Mogil's most recent research has focused on how mice process pain, and he's found that male and female mice actually do this through different types of immune cells. Therefore, any work looking at this mechanism only in male mice could be ignoring female pain."

http://www.refinery29.com/2015/07/90501/women-medication-clinical-trials?mc_cid=2f7b7bcb51&mc_eid=a3b20efd74

!! Cuz I hella learned that lady rats have menstrual cycles that cause variability. Like, it wasn't on a test or anything, but it feels like something I would expect any scientist working with rodents to be thinking about.

I mean, right now (at least, as I write this) I'm looking at RNA levels in rat models of mood and anxiety disorders, and we're only using male rats. It's sort of a default position.

Related: NIH gender balance policy