ARCHIVED - Research About - Gender and Health

This page has been archived.

For the past 10 years, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has supported better health and health care for Canadians. As the Government of Canada's health research investment agency, CIHR enables the creation of evidence-based knowledge and its transformation into improved treatments, prevention and diagnoses, new products and services, and a stronger, patient-oriented health-care system. Composed of 13 internationally recognized Institutes, CIHR supports more than 13,600 health researchers and trainees across Canada. Through CIHR, the Government of Canada invested approximately $51.3 million in 2009–10 in gender-related research.

The Facts

• Life satisfaction is related to health, with good health contributing to higher satisfaction. In 2009, 92.1% of Canadians 12 and older said they were satisfied or very satisfied. Young men had a higher rate of satisfaction (97.7%) than young women (94.9%). In other age groups, however, differences were not significant.¹
• Life expectancy gains during the past decade were stronger among men, whose life expectancy at birth rose by 2.9 years to 78.3 in 2005–07. Among women, it increased by 1.8 years to 83.0 compared to 10 years earlier.²
• Women are more likely to have arthritis or asthma than men. In 2008, close to 10% of women, compared to 7% of men, had asthma while the proportion of women with arthritis was about 19% compared to 12% of men.³
• The same drug can cause different reactions/side effects in women than in men. And women who smoke are more than 20% more likely to develop lung cancer than men who smoke the same number of cigarettes.⁴

Sources:

1. Statistics Canada: Health Fact Sheets, Life satisfaction, 2009
2. Statistics Canada: The Daily, Deaths
3. Statistics Canada: Social Fact Sheet
4. Health Canada: Healthy Living, Sex and Gender Based Analysis

Finding Solutions

Sexually exploited males get less attention

Health and social services are far more focused on helping sexually exploited and at-risk teenage girls and young women than boys and young men, despite research showing that male and female street teens in British Columbia are equally as likely to have been sexually exploited. Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc of the University of British Columbia hopes to change that. She is exploring urban young men's experiences of health and social services, how their views and ideals about masculinity influence their decisions to access services, and ways health care can be delivered using male-friendly approaches.

Team investigates health challenges faced by transgender people

The Trans PULSE Project is a community-based research initiative investigating the challenges that transgender Ontarians face in accessing health care and social services. Researchers with the project are analyzing results from a comprehensive 87-page survey completed by 433 respondents. "We're looking at things like suicide, violence, family support and health-care utilization," says Dr. Greta Bauer of the University of Western Ontario. E-bulletins are posted on the Trans PULSE website as soon as key data are analyzed. "The information needs of the community are so great that we don't want people to wait two years for a paper to be published," says Dr. Bauer.

Exercise may help cognitive recovery in FASD

Researchers at the University of Victoria are gathering evidence suggesting that, contrary to popular belief, the cognitive capacity of individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) can be improved. Dr. Brian Christie has conducted tests with animal models that indicate some degree of regenerative capacity may be possible for brains damaged by FASD. "So far, the results indicate that diet and exercise benefit even animals with severe brain damage," says Dr. Christie. His research shows that female rats seem to engage in exercise more readily and get more synaptic plasticity benefits from exercise than do male rats, possibly because they react to stress differently. "Our brains are quite dynamic and constantly upgrading themselves by adding new cells and changing synapses," says Dr. Christie. "It's that rate of change that's impaired by FASD. What we're hoping to do is implement some therapies to facilitate the brain's capacity to change."

Survey monitors sleep problems across entire pregnancy

While it's widely known that women often have difficulty getting a good night's sleep during the third trimester of pregnancy, there is little data on how sleep problems develop. Dr. Robyn Stremler of the University of Toronto is surveying 665 women to get a comprehensive understanding of what factors might put women at risk for sleep problems and how those problems become apparent over the nine months. "A lot of the existing research is retrospective, looking back instead of following women across the pregnancy," says Dr. Stremler. "It may be that getting poor sleep leads to things like gestational diabetes, hypertension during pregnancy, preeclampsia. We know that there is a relationship between missing out on sleep and depressive symptoms. But we don't know when sleep problems emerge." The research team hopes to develop ways to find, prevent and treat sleep problems and improve the health of pregnant women and their infants. 

Newly arrived mothers at greater risk for postpartum depression

Life in a new country can be especially difficult for a new mother. Research conducted by the University of Toronto's Dr. Cindy-Lee Dennis has shown that mothers who are recent immigrants may be five times more likely to develop postpartum depression than Canadian-born mothers. Building on her earlier work, Dr. Dennis is tracking the postpartum experiences of 250 Chinese mothers who are recent immigrants to Canada, comparing them to the experiences of 250 Canadian-born Chinese mothers. The goal is to get a better understanding of why immigrant mothers may be at higher risk for developing postpartum depression and how health professionals can address this. The study will follow both groups of mothers for one year.

For More Information

The CIHR Institute of Gender and Health (CIHR-IGH) fosters research excellence regarding the influence of gender and sex on health, and applies these research findings to identify and address pressing health challenges. Gender and sex influence health in many ways that, if better understood, could inform interventions and programs designed to improve the health and well-being of women, men, boys and girls. To learn more about these priorities and other CIHR-IGH activities, please visit the Institute's website.

For more information, go to ARCHIVED - Your Health Research Dollars at Work.