How data use will revolutionise women’s healthcare

Like countless other industries, healthcare has historically been led and run by men. As a result, there has been, and still is, a damaging level of female under-representation in both scientific studies and health datasets. This has led to poorer outcomes for women and low awareness and support of female-specific health issues across the board. 

A study from the BMA showed that women spend less of their lives in good health (free from long-term illness or disability) compared to men, even though they have a higher life expectancy.

This gender inequality leads to great risks, as we generalise symptoms according to data which was not designed to highlight differences in presentation - for example in heart attacks, where female symptoms vary from those displayed by men - something researchers only discovered in the last decade. This both reflects and exacerbates the gender inequalities we witness across society and, when it comes to healthcare, clearly has potentially life-threatening repercussions.