The first ever Recommendations for Diagnosing TMD have been published with support from NIH. Despite a prevalence rate of 2:1 women to men, there was no mention of the sex differences for TMD in the abstract, NIH press release or accompanying editorial.   This continues to frustrate the women’s health research community who are actively advocating for more sex based research.  This latest announcement indicates we must continue to be vigilant and work with funders and journals to ensure that sex differences become part of the research equation.

Many people don’t realize that the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can continue into adulthood as a form of adult ADHD.  Adult ADHD can only result from a pre-existing diagnosis of childhood ADHD—meaning, one is only susceptible to adult ADHD if they suffered from this disorder as a child. Roughly 3-10% of school-aged children are afflicted by ADHD, and 60% of these children will continue to have symptoms when they’re adults. Symptoms manifest themselves into forgetfulness, excessive daydreaming, constant fidgeting, and the inability to sit still.

Men and Women are physiologically different, and it is essential to ensure adequate participation of both sexes in research studies in order to determine sex-based differences in disease presentation, prevalence, and treatment. A press release from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Publishers revealed a study that tested the participation rate of women in post-approval studies mandated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Every year there are roughly 137 million births globally. Of these, about 10% may result in serious complications. Tragically, approximately 5.6 million babies are stillborn or pass away soon after, and around 260,000 women pass away every year in childbirth. These situations often occur in underdeveloped countries or rural areas where women do not have access to hospitals or procedures such as a cesarean section when undergoing an obstructed or prolonged labor.