Car crash dummies are male and sex differences can influence health research

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Leading scientists from across Europe attended the gender summit, led by six leading UK universities, which examined studies showing how sex differences can influence health research and change the effectiveness of treatments. Dr Elizabeth Pollitzer, founder of the summit, said gender bias was also shown in non-drug research. She said a lack of female crash dummies could explain why women have a 50 per cent increased risk of injury in car collisions. Dummies have been based on the male form for 20 years. As a result when women are involved in a crash they may suffer injuries safety features have not accounted for.

She said: “In the case of injuries in a car crash, there are important differences between a male and female body to do with muscle mass and the way the vertebrae are spaced, which affects injury patterns. “All cars are tested on male crash dummies with a scaled-down male dummy made to represent women. It means women may be at higher risk of injury.” The experts also looked at studies, which highlighted the importance for “sex specific medicine” as well as the protection of men and women’s health from environmental chemical and radiation hazards. Dr Pollitzer added: “The proportion of women and men involved in clinical studies does not match the proportion of how disease occurs in the population with a bias towards more men. “Science is supposed to be unbiased but if it ignores, overlooks or prioritises men the outcomes for women may not be as good.

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