WEST MICHIGAN — This week is National Women's Health Week, and Dr. Diana Bitner with True. Women's Health is highlighting changes in medical research and development. This week highlights the struggle for women ignored by medical research, dismissed by doctors, and left to suffer in silence.
Dr. Bitner is highlighting how for most of modern medical history, women weren't included in clinical research. Drugs prescribed, heart attack guidelines in the ER, and treatments for menopause were based on studies done on men.
Recent history:
- The Women's Health Movement was born in the 1960s & 70s — women demanding control of their own bodies and their own care
- By 1973, there were over 1,200 women's self-help health groups across the U.S. born out of frustration and being dismissed
- Our Bodies, Ourselves published in 1970 — a revolution in women understanding their own health
- Women were still being left out of the science — clinical trials routinely excluded women entirely
A turning point: NIH Revitilization Act, 1993
- Before 1993, the FDA had a policy encouraging researchers to keep women out of childbearing age from drug trials
- NIH Revitilization Act passed June 1993, mandating women and minorities be included in federally funded clinical research
- The Office of Research on Women's Health was created, giving women's health a permanent seat at the government table
- Today there has been a complete reversal, women make up 50% of clinical trial participants
Heart Disease was often considered a "man's disease" and women were routinely dismissed when they showed symptoms. Today we know heart disease kills nearly 400,000 American women every year, ten times more than breast cancer.
Dr. Bitner says maternal mortality is an ongoing crisis. The U.S. has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among wealthy nations, and the number of deaths has doubled since 1987. Racial disparity in care can mean black women die three times the rate of white women, and American Indian women face the highest rate of any group. 649 women died from pregnancy-related causes in 2024. Dr. Bitner says the majority of these deaths are preventable with access to care and post-partum follow-up.
Menopause care has changed drastically. In the Victorian era, women going through menopause were diagnosed with "climacteric insanity" and were sent to asylums. By the 1930s, Menopause became a "disease of deficiency". Hormone therapy was introduced in the 1950s, and widely embraced until a 2002 WHI study changed everything, with HRT use dropping nearly 50% within six months of that study. Dr. Bitner says today we know HRT is safe and effective for the right candidates when started within 10 years of Menopause.
Read more stories from the FOX 17 Morning News team
Do you have an idea for the Morning News team or maybe an idea for a guest segment or something for the gang to come out and try? Send them an email at mornings@fox17online.com or call 616-447-5252 and leave a message.
Follow FOX 17: Facebook - X (formerly Twitter) - Instagram - YouTube
